The Second Chance Job
by friztbe
Summary: Nate and Sophie cut themselves off from the team to start a new life with their child. However, when their past catches up with them, the team is reunited to take down the mark. Post series fic. Canon pairing. TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

_Chapter 1: Prologue_

_._

They had retired. Buy an island and go legit retired as they had announced, quoting one Alec Hardison from five years ago. They had all flown out to the beautiful island of Capri off the Sorrentine Peninsula for the wedding two months later. Sterling had sent a gift despite receiving no invitation.

Maggie and Tara had joined them for the ceremony but the family had stayed another week. One week of being… normal.

When they all look back on this week later, in the years to come, they will not remember the divine food or the breath taking view from their rooms. The squabbles over Parker's casual lifting and the teasing over Hardison's freak out on the chairlift would have long faded from memory. All they remember would be that feeling of bliss, joy and contentment.

For one week,they were not thieves and they were not vigilantes. They were simply family.

.

The honeymoon lasted six months. They spent it all making love all over Europe, adding memories at some places and creating new ones at others. They had never actually discussed how long the honeymoon would last or where they would eventually settle down, if they settle down at all.

To nobody's surprise, they ended up back in Portland. Sophie spends her days at the theatre while Nate spends his consulting at headquarters and visiting the various bars around town. They might very well have settled into this routine had something significant not occurred a fortnight later.

Sophie had announced it with the dramatic flair that Nate has come to expect from her at dinner that evening. For a moment, Nate was transported back to another dinner 15 years prior, another woman making the same announcement, albeit with much less fanfare.

Just as quickly, he was back in this moment. A second chance, another chance to make it right and this time he will do whatever it takes to do the right thing.

The family was over the moon ecstatic at the news, a new addition to their family. Parker started babbling about lock picking lessons and safe cracking tips. Hardison started listing a multitude of gadgets that would be required. Eliot shook Nate's hand and gave Sophie a big hug before whispering softly; "_It would be __best to just tell them now._"

.

They had to retire. Actually, truly, completely retire. Over the years, the number of people who might come after them have only increased and to protect their child, they have to cut off this life, for good.

On the day of farewell, the mood was understandably sombre. New identities have been secured, without Hardison's help. Belongings have been sold or destroyed or left with the family as keepsake. Hugs were exchanged, tears were shed and final advices hurriedly whispered until finally it was time leave.

Nate pulled Eliot aside at the last moment, pulled out two identical burner cells and handed one to Eliot. "For emergencies." He said simply.

And with that, Nate and Sophie walked off, hand in hand. They were still family, they would always be family and that was enough.


	2. Chapter 2: An Incoming Storm

**A/N: Hi everyone, thank you so much for all the views, reviews, favourites and follows. I never really expected people to be interested in this ****story. Writing is not a strong suite of mine but this idea came to me during a recent rewatch of the series and I wanted to challenge myself to ****translate the "episode" I see in my mind into words on paper. **

**Thank you for coming with me on this humble journey and I hope you enjoy it as ****much as me.**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 2: An Incoming Storm_

_._

Sam and Lara White moved to Elmwood Village, Buffalo on a beautiful day in June. The couple had previously lived on the west coast but had been vague on the exact circumstances that had led to the move across the country. "It is mainly to provide a better environment for our daughter." Lara had told the neighbours while serenely rubbing her swelling belly.

Sam bought the old Jones' place and turned it into a small pub, which stocked a surprisingly wide variety of Irish whiskey. The Black King quickly turned into one of the more popular spots in town. The drinks prices were affordable and the food was reasonably priced and delicious. Sam's staff consisted solely of local residents who had a hard time making ends meet, especially those who had come up against or been wronged by one big corporation or other.

"So, Mr White, any reason why you name the pub The Black King? Why not The White King?" Harry the bartender asked his boss as he wiped down the counter in preparation for the evening.

Sam swirled the whiskey in his glass and looked up. "Well, it would be rather egoistic to name a bar after myself wouldn't it? And give myself a royal title at that? Besides, The Black King sounds rather more intriguing don't you think?" He finished his drink and put his glass into the dishwasher, gave Harry a smile and left the bar for home.

Their daughter Maria had been born shortly after the move.

"Sam darling, do you think we could send a couple of pictures to them? I really want them to know we are safe and happy at the very least." Lara asked her husband while cooing at her newborn. Sam lay down next to his wife and gently stroked his daughter's chestnut coloured hair.

"You know what my answer is going to be my darling. It's a risk to us and to them. As much as I would like to shout to the world and introduce Maria to our family, it's just not possible." Sam said softly, placing a kiss on Lara's forehead.

Lara sighed. Deep down she understood, they had made this decision together but it did not stopped an aching feeling from creeping up to her heart. "Maria my precious, you have two loving uncles and an adorable aunt. One day, you will meet them and you will get to know them and you will love them like we love them, I promise you this."

.

In the months that followed, the family settled into a routine. Sam spends his mornings with his daughter, leaving after lunch to settle business at the pub. He always returned home in the early evening for a short dinner with his wife before returning to the pub for a few hours to ensure things were running smoothly before returning home. Lara took care of Maria at home and ran an after school acting program for some of the neighbourhood children out of the garage.

For the first year, they were cautious. While they were friendly with the neighbours and integrated into the community with ease, they were careful about the type of information they revealed to their new friends. They had agreed on a backstory before arriving, sticking to as much truth as possible while keeping it simple and vague. The more details there were, the more likely it would be for them to slip up. The neighbours had thought them to be a rather easy-going couple if a little odd at times.

As the months went by, they started to ease up slowly. Everyday that goes by without incident made it easier for them to believe that they had well and truly left the past behind and after three years; even Lara and Sam had started to believe their own story, perhaps they had managed to obtain their happy ending after all.

* * *

><p>Eliot leaned back on the sofa and held the ice pack to the throbbing area on his head. It had been a long day; no scratch that, a long 72 hours. Despite constantly stressing that he only required ninety minutes of sleep a day, he was completely exhausted.<p>

The job had taken much longer than they anticipated and there were times when he had thought for sure that their cover had been blown. _Too many times_, he thought to himself. Parker and Hardison crashed on the bed as soon as they had returned from cleaning up and experience told Eliot that he would not be seeing those two until well past lunchtime tomorrow. He could hardly believed that it had been three years since Sophie and Nate had retired and entrusted Leverage Inc. to the three of them.

"_You know this was your crusade. Now it's our war._" To fight a war, an army was required, and recruiting one had been one helluva job. They had put up a few of the names on the dark net and as predicted, there had been no short of crews and freelancers who had signed up.

The only problem was that they were, at the end of the day, dealing with thieves and criminals. It was hard to trust them, especially those whose reputation preceded them. While they had relented and allowed most of them to take a cut of the spoils before turning over the rest to them, there had been more than a few times where they had simply disappeared with the money, never to be seen again.

They had since stopped putting up information of potential marks on the dark net and instead used it to recruit troops to do the ground work, taking on more of a background role, where they had more control over the money. They still took on certain jobs themselves, which more often than not required calling in favours from friends, usually Tara, for backup.

When it was down to just the three of them, they tried to stick to simpler cons or smaller marks, there had been one too many incidents of biting off more than they could chew in the early days and Eliot finally had to put his foot down on the type of jobs they pulled without reinforcements. He had promised to keep them safe and that was his top priority, war or not.

Once in a while, they would talk about recruiting someone on a permanent basis, but such conversations usually went nowhere. You can replace teammates but you cannot replace family. Still, despite the throbbing head, Eliot felt rather proud that they had managed to pull off a rather big job and without any reinforcements. Even Sterling had been mildly impressed when he had arrived to pick up the mark. Not that he had said it out loud of course, but the distinct lack of his usual snarky remarks was rather telling.

.

Parker woke up to a dim room. The curtains had been drawn to block out the midday sun. _Eliot_, she thought, smiling to herself. Next to her, Hardison was still asleep, both of them still dressed in the clothes from the day before. Soundlessly, Parker moved off the bed and head to the ensuite bathroom for a nice long shower.

As the water cascade down from the rain shower, she reflected on their most recent job. Eliot had not wanted to take on the job without Tara but Parker had spent the better part of a fortnight, coming up with a plan and another two days to wear Eliot down into agreeing. It had gone according to plan, well mostly, and if she was honest with herself they had a few too many close shaves on this one.

It had all worked out in the end though. They now have at least a month's worth of work on their hands, tracking down all the victims and returning their money. Parker had felt very strongly about this client, she had been a foster child who had been in the same home as Parker at one time. Although five years younger than Parker, he had been a tough kid who looked out for her and she had seen this as a way of repaying him.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she saw that Hardison was up and pulling up the curtains to let the sun in.

"Morning girl." Hardison greeted her cheerily, "we gonna have to change the sheets. They smell all nasty."

"It's past noon Hardison." Parker pointed out good-naturedly.

"I just woke up. It's morning to me. Anyway, Eliot's making pancakes, I'm going to take a nice long shower now. Catch you both in a bit."

It was times like this that made Parker missed Nate and Sophie the most. Sitting down at the table having a meal that Eliot had prepared and listening to him squabble with Hardison seem to magnify the absence of the mastermind and the grifter.

"I wonder how they are doing." Parker said quietly. The boys turned to stare at her.

"They are perfectly fine." Eliot said confidently.

"How do you know? How can you be so sure? They could be dead lying in a morgue somewhere for all you know."

"Parker, people don't kill people like Nate and Sophie and leave them unclaimed in some hole somewhere. Trust me, if they were dead, we would have heard

about it." Parker was silent for a moment as if pondering Eliot's words.

The moment passed just as quickly and she turned to Hardison cheerily, "Hardison, do you think their daughter would look more like Soph or Nate? I hope she's as pretty as Soph and has Nate's brain. She'll be a super thief. Master-grifter. Is that a thing?" The boys laughed at that and conversation drifted, as it often did, to reminiscing of days gone by.

.

A fortnight later, a knock on the door interrupted Eliot's dinner preparation. Grumbling, he checked the peephole, cursed under his breath and opened the door.

"What do you want Sterling."

"Good evening to you too Spencer. No need to be rude, I come in peace."

"If you have something to say, spit it out so we can both be on our way."

"I come with a peace offering. One of our dear friends in Interpol custody got a very interesting visitor about two months ago. Thought you and your friends would be interested to know." Sterling said, while handing a file to Eliot. Eliot took one look at the picture inside and immediately swore.

"This happened two months ago and you're only telling us now? Are you kidding me?" Seeing Eliot ready to hit him, Sterling subconsciously took a step back.

"I have better things to do with my time than to keep track of your enemies Spencer. I came by this while checking surveillance for another case. Now my work is done here. Good day Spencer." And with that, Sterling strolled off, leaving Eliot standing at the doorway with a deep sense of foreboding.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I've never actually been to Elmwood Village, Buffalo. I just thought it sounded like a nice place to settle down, so consider this a ****fictionalized version of the actual place. The action will start next chapter, I promise. Thanks again for reading this.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Disappeared

**I'm still trying to get the hang of the formatting here. I apologize in advance for any wonkiness.**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

**.**

_Chapter 3: The Disappeared_

_._

Eliot wasted no time in hitting speed dial 1 on his phone. "Hardison, emergency. You and Parker need to get here NOW." He did not even bother to wait for a reply before hanging up and slamming the door shut behind him. _Damn it all to hell_, he thought, turning his attention back to the half chopped celery still on the board and resume his task of cooking dinner.

The stew is almost ready to be served by the time Parker and Hardison burst through the door but even he knew that it is only a half-hearted effort and they would be lucky if nothing was raw.

"What the hell man. What's the big emergency?" Hardison asked, still slightly breathless from running up the stairs.

Eliot gave a low growl and nod towards the file, now sitting innocently on the counter, and turn to move the pot onto the dining table. Parker pounce cat-like onto the file and opened it. Her eyes widen at the surveillance photo inside and she froze for a moment before flipping the file outwards to show it to Hardison, who let out an unnaturally high pitched squeak.

"Is that who I think it is? And is the person talking to him… What the, how did… I didn't even know they were acquainted. No that's impossible. I keep tabs on them, all of them. I would have known…" He trailed off as his right hand started flying across the laptop that was balanced precariously on his left.

Parker remained rooted on the spot and turned her attention to Eliot. He looks tense, and not just the usual this-job-is-way-too-big-for-us level of tense that seem to be his default reaction to every job now but the full-blown someone-is-after-my-family-and-I-am-stuck-here level. Parker can see the methodical grinding of his jaw, and he was gripping on to the pot so tightly that the veins could be seen even from a distance. Frankly, she is surprised the porcelain pot is still in one piece. A sense of unease is starting to spread in her gut.

"Even you cannot keep track of everyone all the time." Eliot said softly, his voice calm, too calm. His blue eyes have the wild look of an unleashed beast, a swirling storm in those blue orbs. _Yup, time to buckle up_. Parker thought before crossing the room to flop down on the sofa.

* * *

><p>Lara sank onto the sofa with a dramatic flop and sigh loudly. It is one of those where everything slowly went to hell and you look up at the clock and realize the day isn't even half done yet. Lara groan and turn her head to check the clock on the wall. Half past six, Sam will be home from the bar soon.<p>

_I do not have the energy or the mood to make dinner_, Lara thought as she reached for her phone to send a quick message to Sam, asking him to bring back dinner from the pub. Just as she is about to doze off, Maria materialize out of nowhere, yanking at her skirt, demanding her mother's attention.

With her dark wavy hair, heart shaped face and disarming smile, Maria is a mini version of her mother. Her eyes though, are the precise shade of crystal blue that captured Lara's heart all those years ago, which makes it hard for her to refuse the child most of the time.

This is not one of those times.

Maria had been throwing tantrums the entire day. It had taken Lara the better part of the morning to feed her breakfast, after which there had been a peaceful two-hour period where Maria had held a tea party for her soft toys. She had refused lunch, which had led to a battle of wills over her afternoon nap, which Lara lost, resulting in a very grumpy toddler at the afternoon acting class.

To top it all off, Lara's students were two weeks from opening night of their biannual production and rehearsal had gone badly, with forgotten lines aplenty and a worrying delay in the props department. This day cannot end soon enough.

Lara's hope of handing off the latest Maria crisis over to her husband quickly got crushed when a quick glimpse at her daughter revealed that she had somehow gotten her hands on the glue and glitter the children had been using for the props. A shimmery trail now stretch from the garage to the living and her daughter has turned into a sparkly fairy, who is currently leaving shiny handprints on her skirt and legs. _I will find this extremely hilarious in ten years time_, Lara reminds herself as she pick up her daughter and make her way to the bathroom, _Sam can clean up the rest of the fairy dust_.

Lara stepped out of the shower feeling slightly better. Making her way into the kitchen with Maria running in front, she realizes that the house is quiet. Sam has not return. Frowning, she checks her cellphone. No new messages or missed calls.

It was then she notices the blinking red light on the answering machine. Pressing play, she move to the cupboard and pull out the pasta and grab the sauce from the fridge, while absently listening to Sam's voice saying he won't be back for dinner because of some emergency at the pub. _It's only a bloody ten-minute drive away_, Lara fume silently as she throws together dinner for Maria and herself. Thankfully, dinner pass without incident and Maria fell asleep before Lara was a third into the story.

.

Lara woke up to a sore neck and some late night talk show on the television. She had dozed off on the sofa, waiting for Sam to come home. The clock now read half past one. The pub closed half an hour ago, and a quick check of her phone shows nothing new. She feels the beginning of a tightening sensation in her gut as she walks upstairs to check on Maria, before returning to the kitchen to replay Sam's message.

"_Lara darling, there's a small emergency at the pub so I won't be home for dinner. Give M my love and a kiss from me. I love you my white queen._"

_White queen?_ Sam never calls her that, in fact, Sam had jokingly crowned her the black queen to his black king at the wedding reception, and that had been the only time he referred to her as a queen, black or otherwise.

Something must be wrong. She grabbed her phone and dialled the number to Sam's office, hanging up when it went to voice mail. She dialled again, this time to the bar.

Harry picked up on the third ring. "The Black Knight, Harry speaking."

"Hello Harry, it's Lara. Just calling to check that there's no problems with the closing."

"Not to worry Mrs White, everything is going well, we've got this covered. Tell Mr White to relax and feel better soon."

"I'll pass on the message. Thanks Harry."

"Yeah no problem."

Something is very wrong. Suppressing the urge to lock herself in her daughter's room and freak out, Lara quickly did a sweep of the house, locking all the windows and doors as she went, and turned on all the motion sensors and alarms. Quick as they were to believe they had outrun the past, they had taken no chance with security system, utilising most of the gear given to them as a farewell gift.

She went into Sam's office and from a hidden compartment under the desk; she retrieved an iPad and a black burner cell, before locking herself into Maria's bedroom. She took a moment to compose herself before flipping the phone open and dialling the only number stored in the phone.

* * *

><p>"Damnit Parker, would you stop with the pacing already. It's driving me nuts."<p>

"I can't just sit there. I have to do something and I still think we need to find Nate and Sophie an…"

"And tell them what? 'Hey guys, having a nice life? You know, two of the people we once screwed over may be planning to get back at us, just thought you would like to know. Ok bye.' Besides, we don't know who or where they are now."

"Hardison can find them, right babe?"

"No no mama, Hardison most certainly can't. Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying the last few hours? They have the disappearing power of the five of us COMBINED, and they can be anyone and anywhere on this lovely planet of ours."

"But there must be a way right? If you really, really want to."

"No. Damnit Parker, we are not going to search for Nate and Sophie now. Think about it. If Hardison can't find them in like 10 seconds, it means they can't either. Getting Hardison to try will probably just result in us handing them over on a silver platter."

"What if they go after them? You have to use the phone Eliot."

"The phone is for emergencies only. This is not an emergency." _Yet. _"They can't go after them if they don't know where to find them. Which is why Hardison is going through all their financials and activities now."

"Hey hey, you two mind? Trying to work here. The fighting is not helping."

"What if it's a trap? Maybe Sterling is planning to take us all down. I mean why else will he show up out the blue? Evil Nate wants to get rid of good Nate for good. I mean one of them is in prison."

"Yes Parker, and we have never been screwed over by anyone in prison. Now shut up for-"

A ringing phone cut off the rest of Eliot's sentence. All three instinctively glance at their cellphones and were greeted with three dark screens. A second ring had them all scrambling to retrieve the black phone hidden in the knife drawer. Eliot yanked open the drawer and pulled out the phone.

"Sophie?"

"Are you psychic now? How did you know it was me?" The voice on the other side was surprisingly calm.

"We both know Nate is too much of a stubborn ass to ever make this call. What's wrong?"

"Sam, I mean Nate. He's missing. I'm not-" her voice broke.

"Text me the address. We'll be on the next flight out to… Wherever. Is your place secured?"

"Yes… I think so. For now anyway."

"Get rid of the phone after you text me. Stay put and hang tight. We'll get him back Soph. You just focus on your daughter for now." And with that, Eliot ended the call. The phone beeped a couple of seconds later, with a New York address. He turned to the two expectant faces and switched to retrieval specialist mode.

"Nate's missing. Hardison, we need to be at this address just now. Destroy the phone after you have the info you need. Backup all the data you need from the hard drives then scrub them clean. Parker, pack all our essentials. I'll start cleaning up. We leave in an hour."

* * *

><p>Lara leaned back on her daughter bed. How she envied the girl dreaming peacefully on the bed, her dreams free of the demons and regrets that haunt hers. She let out a breath she did not realise she had been holding. They are on their way and they will get him back, of that she has no doubt. What happens between now and then though, she cannot be sure.<p>

Thinking back on their short conversation, Lara can't help but break into a small smile. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to hear his voice again. The tension in his voice, palpable even over the phone, nagged at her. Nothing much fazes Eliot, and she suspects that this is not just about her call.

Holding back the tears threatening to spill, Lara directed her attention to the iPad, now glowing softly with numerous squares, showing a live feed of the perimeter of the house. The peace and quiet reflected on the screen is in direct contrast to the storm raging in her. The tears finally spill over, dripping onto the LCD screen and blurring her vision. She wiped them off hurriedly, leaving a streak on the screen. Now is not the time to break down, there is work to be done.

* * *

><p>In what felt like no time at all, they were ready to leave. Parker pulled the door open, only to find three gun barrels staring down at them. <em>This is definitely an emergency now<em>.

* * *

><p><strong>I know I promised some action this chapter but the characters had other ideas. Eliot will instead be kicking some bad guy butt next chapter.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4: Old Friends

**I have written my first ever fight scene and it was, erm, rather unremarkable. If any of you fellow writers out there have any tips or resources ****to share, I would be ever grateful. Thank you for your continuous support of this story :)**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

_._

_Chapter 4: Old friends_

_._

"Put down your bags slowly and step outside and nobody gets hurt." The one Parker mentally dubbed Suit 1 said, nudging her with his gun.

"Hey guys, why so serious?" Parker responded lightly, as she slowly crouched down. "I'm just going to be putting this bag down now."

As the three Suits eye her wearily, Parker nimbly swept the heavy bag at their feet, causing two of them to fall backwards in surprise. Suit 3 fired off a shot in Parker's direction and she narrowly avoided it by rolling away. She could hear Hardison's panicked yelp and some muffled complains about giving some advance warning.

Eliot was on Suit 3 before he could fire off a second shot, delivering a swift blow to his torso, causing him to double over. Grabbing his arm, Eliot pivot him to the right, just in time to block a punch from Suit 2.

Parker had sprung up from the ground, dart around Suit 1's shot with cat like agility and tazed him in the neck. She grabbed the gun and turned around in time to see Eliot knocking Suit 2 out with a precise blow to the head and Suit 3 already unconscious on the ground.

Eliot emptied all three guns of their bullets and flung the guns away while Parker went back into the apartment to find Hardison crouching behind the sofa.

"It's over Hardison, come on, get out of there. We have to go." Still shaken but looking more relived, Hardison quickly got up and followed Parker out of the apartment. He picked up the bag Parker had earlier and ran towards Eliot who was already waiting impatiently at the stairwell.

.

They reached Portland International Airport in good time. Hardison had booked them three first class seats under their aliases. Hardison and Parker will play a honeymooning couple while Eliot is a businessman. As a precaution, Hardison had booked tickets under their real names on a flight 30 minutes earlier to Colorado Springs.

By a stroke of luck, Eliot's neighbouring seat was empty, making communication slightly easier. Hardison had piggybacked their coms signal onto the plane's wifi so they could communicate without leaving their seats.

"Try to get some rest guys. It's a 7 hours flight and there's nothing much we can do up here and we gotta hit the ground running once we land in Buffalo." Eliot advised, once the plane had reached cruising altitude. After getting mumbled replies from Parker and Hardison, Eliot leaned back on his seat, closed his eyes and tried to relax.

He was used to doing this; allowing himself some down time to recharge while still being alert enough to react to any situations that may arise. Not this time. Eliot's mind keeps racing back to the phone call with Sophie, the fear in her voice causing his muscles to tense up. The photos in Sterling's file contributing to the frustration he is feeling.

_This is no coincidence_, he thought grimly. He just hoped they are not too late.

Two rows back, Hardison is busy tapping on his laptop while Parker is curled up next to him, apparently asleep. The blond head popped up suddenly, giving Hardison a fright.

"Damn girl, you gotta stop doing that. I almost spilled orange soda on my keyboard. Again."

"Maybe you need to start getting used to it. You should be sleeping; Eliot says we need to sleep. Why aren't you sleeping?" Parker asked, shooting an accusatory look at Hardison.

"Alright, alright mama, you win. Let me just secure my laptop here and I will join you in lala land." Satisfied with the answer, Parker returned to her curled up position. Hardison packed away his laptop and leaned back. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard Parker whispering.

"Hardison? Is it bad that I'm really happy to be seeing Sophie again?"

"Why would that be bad? We all miss them."

"We'll get Nate back right?"

"Course we will, don't you ever doubt it."

"What if Sophie blames me? What if Nate and Sophie's daughter hate me? What if-"

"Parker!" The low growl in their ears reminded them that they were still on coms. "Listen to me. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. And you will get along with the kid, don't worry about it. _Now go back to sleep._"

The plane touched down at the Buffalo Niagara Airport with a relatively well-rested thief and hacker and a grumpy hitter. Hardison and Parker went off to pick up the rental car while Eliot walked out to the pick up point, where they will pick him up.

Nate and Sophie's place is a 20 minutes drive away, which got shortened to 10 minutes thanks to Parker. Eliot yelled at her to slow down as they neared the house, in case they draw unwanted attention.

Pulling up at the house, Parker turned off the engine and turned to the boys. "We're here. Let's go."

* * *

><p><em>She<em> _was walking purposefully along a long corridor. She recognizes this place. She was on a ship. The_ _name of which is right at the tip of her tongue. The Mal __something or other. She felt her footsteps hasten, and then she was running, down a corridor that doesn't seem to end. _

_The sound of a gunshot echoed around __her just as she saw him fell to the ground. She ran to him and knelt down next to him, staring down at a pair of lifeless blue eyes. She screamed his name but __all she heard was the ringing of the gunshot._

Lara jolted awake. She had fallen asleep on the floor next to Maria's bed. She checked on her daughter, relieved that she was still sleeping peacefully. The iPad next to her showed nothing out of the ordinary and the broken pieces of the phone and the crushed SIM card were still in the corner where she left dream had seemd so real.

_I got to him in time then, I will get to him in time now. _Lara reminded herself, took a few deep breaths and felt slightly calmer. Perspiration had caused her blouse to stick uncomfortably to her back and she mentally chided herself for not grabbing a change of clothes just now.

The clock on the shelf read half past five. It would be morning soon. She stood up and stretched, pacing around the room, while mentally going over the checklist of things to do. She can't risk the neighbours or employees realising that Sam was missing.

Honest citizens call the police during such situations and since they have no contacts in the local police department, explaining their list of enemies to the authorities will prove more than tricky.

.

It was with relief that she greeted the first rays on sun that peeked weakly into the room. A new day has arrived and she could start getting some things done, rather than sitting still and being haunted by nightmares.

Using the faint light, she pulled out an outfit for Maria, before grabbing an old diaper bag from the top of the closet and packing in a few change of clothes and other essentials. She set the bag next to the door, ready to be grabbed at a moment's notice. She managed to locate a plastic bag at the back of the closet, and dumped the pieces of phone into it, placing it next to the diaper bag.

As if on cue, Maria started to stir on her bed, blinking sleepily before turning her attention to her mother.

"Mommy?" She smiled cheerily at her mother, and then frowned slightly. "Where's daddy?"

Mornings were Sam's responsibility. He helped her brush her teeth and then father and daughter would pick the day's outfit together before coming downstairs for breakfast. Lara enjoyed mornings. They were her chance to catch up on her work and have some alone time.

"Maria sweetheart, daddy is busy and has to go to work early so it's you and me today, ok princess?" Maria seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding her head and sending Lara another award winning smile. It appears that Maria is going to be a lot more cooperative today.

_One less thing to fret about I guess_. Lara checked the iPad one last time before unlocking the door and leading Maria to the bathroom, still holding the iPad in one hand. By the time Maria is happily eating her cereal at the dining table, it's just past 8. Lara sat next to her daughter and started calling the parents of her acting students, to inform them that class has been cancelled for that day.

_Poor Sam is still feeling slightly under the weather and it wouldn't do if the children get infected. _

_Oh no, no doctors for __him, you know how stubborn men gets sometimes. _

_Yes, it's probably the flu bug that is going around and yes of course, it's no problem at all taking care of both __the young and the old by herself, thank you so much for the offer._

Maria was done with breakfast by the time Lara finally got off the phone, and proceeded to announce that she would be holding a tea party for the toys. Lara put the dishes into the sinks and followed her daughter up to the playroom.

.

Lara sat in the corner of the room watching her daughter play, oblivious to the storm brewing around her. By her estimates, the team should be arriving soon. She turned her attention back to the iPad. Most of the neighbours have already left for the day, judging by the cars she had observed driving by over the last couple of hours. Hopefully, this meant a smaller chance of anyone observing the arrival of her three guests.

At a quarter to ten, a silver Camry pulled up on the street, in front of her house. Lara felt her body tensed up as she stared intently at the screen, until the car doors opened revealing the three remaining members of her family.

Carried by instinct, Lara ran down the stairs, one hand on the iPad, disabling the alarm on the front door. In a matter of seconds, she was yanking open the door with more than necessary force and coming face to face with a slightly stunned looking blonde thief with a finger on the doorbell.

For three years, they had purposefully cut off all contact with the three people standing outside the door but it did not stop her or him from constantly thinking about them. She had often pictured the scene of their reunion, set in some vague distant future in a variety of settings, in her mind.

None of them however, involved a panicked call in the middle of the night about her missing husband followed by them turning up at her doorstep. The three years that had span since their last farewell stretched between them like an abyss, both sides at a lost for words and appropriate responses.

A blur of movement leapt over the abyss, causing it to melt away just as quickly. Parker had launched herself at Lara, wrapping her body around the older woman like a koala bear. Lara stumbled backwards slightly before regaining her composure and balance and ushered them all into the house. Eliot closed and locked the door behind him while Hardison reached over for the iPad.

"Erm Parker dear, as happy as I am to see you, perhaps you want to let go now so I can take a good look at all of you." Parker reluctantly let go, allowing Lara to give the boys a hug and take a good look at them. Parker was staring at her intensely.

The young thief had barely aged, her skin still soft and free of lines. Her eyes still danced with the same wild sense of adventure but now there was an added layer of focus and darkness. Leading this time has aged her soul if not her body.

Hardison had redirected his attention back to the gadgets, eyes swivelling between the iPad and his tablet. He seemed bulkier than before, his t-shirt hugging his toned muscles.

And Eliot, still as intense as ever, was already moving around, mentally categorizing all the potential exits and risks. The lines on his face have increased and deepened and Lara thought she counted a few new scars on his bare arms. Looking out for the two younger members have taken its toll.

"So, Lara and Sam White… And you two own a pub call The Black King? Well, I must say, for people who are trying to leave their past behind y'all sure have taken a good portion of it with you." Hardison commented.

Parker frowned slightly. "So are you related to Alice White?"

Lara smiled slightly. "Well yes and no. Alice White is not related to our aliases but it was part of the reason we chose that name." She paused. "It felt like a nice way to keep all of you close by."

"Is your daughter named Alice?"

"No sweetie. Her name is Maria. Why don't the three of you come upstairs with me? I want to properly introduce you to my daughter."

.

"Maria darling," Sophie called from just outside the playroom. "Would you come over here for a moment? There are some people here mommy would like you to meet." The girl bounded over and Lara put an arm around her shoulders and announced.

"Guys, I would like you to meet my daughter Maria. Maria, do you know who these people are?" A pair of familiar blue eyes stared up at the three newcomers, studying them for a moment before lighting up with excitement and recognition.

"Yeah yeah! Princess Parker. And Prince Alec. And Sir Eli?" She declared with a flourish that leave no doubt as to the identity of the mother, running back into the room as the three turned to stare at Lara in confusion.

"It's from a storybook. A special one of a kind storybook, which just so happen to be her favourite one as well." Lara replied, a genuine smile spreading across her face. Maria had made a reappearance, this time dragging a thick book behind her, which she proudly presented to Parker. Parker accepted the book and flipped through the pages, Hardison and Eliot flanking her.

It was a beautiful picture book with rich details and vibrant, colourful pictures. It tells the adventures of a resourceful princess and her inventor prince who travel across the realm to defeat the bad guys with the help of a brave knight.

The most unique detail was of course the uncanny resemblance of the three main characters to the current readers of the book.

"Nate and I, we got this for her last Christmas. It was an idea I randomly had one day but Nate…" Her voice caught. "He somehow managed to get it made. It's meant to be a way for her to get to know you." At the mention of the mastermind, the casual atmosphere dissipated, reminding them of the circumstances that had brought them to this moment.

"Princess Parker? Come have tea." A small hand tugged at Parker's pants. Seeing the slightly alarmed look on the thief, Eliot came to her rescue.

"You three stay for tea, I'm going downstairs to make us some real food, and then we can talk over lunch." His eyes met those of the older woman for a moment. "We'll get him back."


	5. Chapter 5: Old Foes

**Phew, this took me slightly longer than anticipated because I wasn't satisfied with the sequence of events I previously planned out and had to rethink a bit of the plot. This chapter is slightly shorter but rest assured that I've already planned out the whole story, so I do know where I'm going and won't leave you hanging. **

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 5: Old Foes_

.

Parker followed the happily chattering little girl into her room. Lara was about to follow when Hardison gently pulled her aside.

"I've tracked Nate's phone. It's turned off now but I managed to pull the last place it was located before it got turned off and it was at the pub. His car doesn't have a GPS tracker and it's not at the pub. I could try to track it through traffic cams but I need a smaller timeframe. So I've hacked into the security system at the pub and am now running facial recognition against the camera feeds and hopefully we can get a timeframe."

"He left me message on the answering machine. I haven't delete it, see if you can get anything from it?"

"Alright, I'm on it." Hardison replied, making his way into the room and sat down near Parker and Maria, his eyes never leaving the laptop screen.

Lara tried to focus on the conversation Parker was having with Maria but her eyes kept finding their way to Hardison, willing him to tell her that he had found something.

.

In what seem like no time at all, Eliot's voice floated up, informing them that lunch was ready. He had worked his magic and whipped up a seafood pasta dish with a side salad. Lara took a portion for Maria and granted her a rare treat by turning on the television, before seating the girl down for lunch at the coffee table.

Glancing at the clock, Lara realised that it's past 12. She told the other three to start without her, and stepped aside to make a call.

"Afternoon Lara. What's up?"

"Hey Matthew, I was wondering if you could handle the opening for the next couple of days?"

"Yeah sure, no problem. Sam's that sick huh."

"Yeah well, he's feeling pretty under the weather so I'm trying to get him to take a few days off."

"The man works too hard Lara. Don't worry about it; I'll make sure everything is fine. Say hi to Maria for me." Lara disconnected the call, relieved that at least something is going her way.

"Who's Matthew?" Parker asked.

"He's the manager at The Black King. Matthew's in charge when Nate is away."

"Do we have to call you Lara now?" Parker asked softly. There was moment of silence before Parker got her answer.

"No. It was nice to be Lara and she has a wonderful life." A pause. "It was fun but I'm ready to be Sophie Devereaux again." She tried to smile as she sat down to join them.

.

"I have a confession to make. Nate and I have pulled a few jobs while we've been here." Sophie said quietly after a while. She could feel the three pairs of eyes boring down on her as she resolutely stared at her food. "Before you yell at me, it wasn't that many. And they were really really small jobs, and not around here. It's kind of a holiday activity thing." She blurted out, chancing a glance at the others.

"Are the both of you insane?" Eliot rolled his eyes and gave a grunt. "But I can't say this comes as a total surprise." Hardison gave a laugh and turned his attention back to the laptop.

"Sophie, we think this is much bigger than that." Parker said as Hardison turned his laptop around such that the screen is facing Sophie. Her fork dropped with a clink at the pictures on the screen.

"Them? You think they are involved in this? Ian Blackpoole and… and Tony Kadjic? How… how?"

"Well yeah, that's what we have been trying to find out. See, Sterling dropped off a file with some pictures and prison visitor logs of Blackpoole visitng Kadjic in prison about two months ago."

"Two months ago? When did Sterling drop off the file?"

"Last night actually. Which is why we think that this could be related to Nate being taken. Now I've been digging through both their histories and I've found some hinky stuff but I don't have the whole story yet."

"Don't matter Hardison, just tell us what you got for now." Eliot prompted.

"As far as I can tell, Blackpoole kinda dropped off the radar after we got him kicked out of IYS and a good portion of his fortune along with that. I found some mention of him being hired by some shipping company about two years after that but not much else other than that. Then about two years ago, he started being pictured with a number of different congressmen at fundraisers and whatever high society events these people get themselves invited to."

Hardison turned his laptop back to face him and tapped a few keys before continuing. "Now Tony Kadjic on the other hand, I got next to nothing on him. Everything points to him having been in prison since Nate's testimony took him down. According to the records Sterling dropped off, Blackpoole has only visited him a couple of times, the most recent time being two months ago.

He only has one other visitor, an Edi Kadjic that I believe is a half brother.I've been trying to find out more about this guy but I got nothing and I mean zilch, nada, so far. Which is even more hinky. Trying to get my hands on the recordings of all the meetings now, seeing as Sterling was not kind enough to provide that information. Doing my best guys, but it's gonna take more time."

"So we still don't know how Blackpoole and Kadjic hooked up." Eliot concluded. Hardison shook his head and return his attention to his laptop.

"We also can't be sure that they are involved in this. I mean, how would they know where we are? Nobody knew!" Sensing that Sophie was starting to panic, Parker reached over to give her hand a squeeze.

"Erm guys? You're not going to like what I found." Hardison said looking up. "Someone hacked into the pub's security system and set the cameras on a loop from 12pm to about 2pm. The call Sophie received from Nate was made from a burner, so it's a dead end."

"That must be when Nate was taken. Hardison, can you check the traffic cams in the area around that time?"

"Already on it babe."

From the corner of his eye, Eliot could see the girl sitting in front of the television was starting to nod off. He nudged Sophie, indicating that she should bring her daughter up for her nap. After ensuring that Sophie is out of earshot, Eliot voiced his greatest concern.

"I'm not going to lie guys. I'm worried. It's been 24 hours since they took Nate, maybe longer. And we have had no calls or notes or anything from the kidnappers. Nothing at all to indicate that they plan on returning him."

"Do you think Nate's already…?" Parker stopped, unable to bring herself to put the words the thought going through all their minds.

"I don't know Parker." Eliot replied, a rare trace of uncertainty in his voice.

"But we will find him right? We have to. We can't abandon him. He would find us no matter what and we need to do the same for him. Right guys?" Parker demanded fiercely, looking from one man to the other, satisfied only when both gave a quick nod.

"The people who took Nate are professionals. The voice mail, the security cams, the car. They've clearly monitored them for a while. We're not safe here. Hardison, you need to find us a safe house, we need to get-"

"I'm not leaving this house." Sophie interrupted Eliot's instructions. "We're getting ahead of ourselves. What if they call?"

"Hardison can redirect the calls. Look Sophie, it's been a day. Any other 'small time' kidnappers worth their salt would have already called with a ransom demand and drop off location. This isn't random. They've learnt your routine, maybe even planted a spy into your social circle here. They are coming straight for you Soph. You and Maria. And us. My job is to keep all of you safe. Nate won't thank me if any of you gets hurt on his account." The words poured out of Eliot, harsher than he had intended.

Sophie could feel anger rising up her chest but before she could reply, Hardison brought their attention back to him.

"Guys, I found Nate's car. They pulled into an empty lot about 30 miles from here at around 230pm yesterday. The angle of the camera only shows the front of the lot. Nate's car didn't come back out but about 10 minutes later, there was an unmarked SUV that drove out but I lost it when it got on the main roads."

"They switched cars. Nate's car must still be at the lot. Give me the address Hardison, I'm going to take a look." Parker said immediately.

"Nobody is going anywhere!" Eliot snapped.

"Look Eliot, this is the only lead we have so far. I can't just sit here and do nothing." Eliot glared at her, gritting his teeth but at a lost for words. She's right of course, they have to check out the car, but there's too many unknown variables at play now and he didn't like the idea of letting any of them out of his sight.

Undeterred, Parker has already moved to retrieve her backpack and checking the contents inside.

"I'm going with you babe." Hardison said, making a move to stand.

"No. It would be easier if I go by myself. You have to focus on digging out all the dirt on Blackpoole and Kadjic."

"And I need you here to help me clean up this place. We have to be able to move out at a moment's notice once you get us a safe house."

Hardison was about to protest when Parker pulled him aside, giving Eliot a look. He turned to face Sophie, looking straight into her eyes.

"Look, I didn't mean to make it sound like you are putting your daughter in danger. But you know that I'm right about this." He could see the anger leaving the woman's eyes, exposing the fear and anxiety underneath. She nodded silently.

Hardison appeared mollified for the time being as Parker returned to digging through her backpack.

"Parker. Don't do anything rash. If there appears to be guards or anything out of the norm get out of there immediately. We can think of another way to get to the car." Parker nodded at Eliot and held out her hand to Hardison.

"Give me my com Hardison. I think all of us should keep them on at all times now. You guys help me move the stuff in our trunk to Sophie's car so I can leave. I'll be back soon."

They stood at the window and watched the blond thief drive off, staring at the car until it disappeared from sight.

"We need to get to work." Eliot stated simply, gently but firmly taking hold of Sophie's arm, leading her away from the window. They worked in silence, accompanied by the tapping of Hardison's keyboard in the background.

They were almost done with the upstairs rooms when the house phone started ringing. Sophie immediately dropped the clothes she was holding and ran down the stairs, with Eliot following close behind. _Unknown number_, the caller ID blinked. Sophie looked up at the guys, took a deep breath and pressed the speakerphone button.

* * *

><p><strong>If you've missed him, fret not, everyone's favourite mastermind will make his appearance next chapter. <strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Plan A

**We're almost at the halfway point of this story. Once again, thank you to everyone who is this little journey with me. And now, let us return to the story.**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

_._

_Chapter 6: Plan A_

.

"_Good day to you Mrs Ford, I hope you're having a lovely day so far. Oh, and I hope it's not presumptuous of me to assume that the other members of your __little family are also there. Mr Hardison, Mr Spencer and Miss Parker if my memory serves me right?"_ The voice at the other end sounded strangely mechanical, transformed by a voice altering software.

"_I must say," _The voice continued, _"I find it rather rude of you to leave the three friends I sent to visit unconscious outside your apartment. Tsk tsk, I thought __Nathan would have taught you better manners than that."_

Whatever restrain Eliot had left since Sterling had dropped off the file was gone. His fist clenched instinctively, knuckles turning white from the strain.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"_What do I want? What do __**I **__want? I already have what I want. Nathan Ford, the ungrateful bastard. I gave him opportunities, made him the man he is and he __repays me by taking everything from me?"_ Even with an altered voice, they could detect a change in his tone. _"He will pay for this. Oh, don't worry, I won't kill __him yet. Not until I've destroyed everything he holds dear while he watches, unable to stop it. You are all going down."_

And with that ominous threat, the line went dead.

Sophie let out a strangled sob, tears flowing freely down her face. Eliot turned from them and swiftly punched the nearest wall, causing some of the paint and plaster to shower down. Hardison remained crouched over his laptop, the slight tremor of his body betraying the fear slowly consuming him.

_"Good __day to you Mrs Ford, I hope you're having a lovely day so far..."_ The sound blasted from Hardison's laptop without warning, this time in the unmistakable of Ian Blackpoole, confirming their suspicions.

* * *

><p><em>Press gently down on the accelerator, don't stomp on it. Turn the steering wheel gently, no sudden movements.<em> Parker chanted to herself as the GPS chirped out directions in her voice. Eliot and Hardison had been trying, with mixed success to get her to drive less erratically. Getting stopped by a traffic police is the last thing they want when trying to escape undetected.

Parker fought the urge to throw all their advices out the window, her need to get her hands on anything that may lead them to Nate fighting with the rational part of her brain telling her not to draw any attention to herself.

The GPS chirped merrily again, informing her that her destination is about 0.3 mile ahead. Parker slowed down, she could see the empty lot just up ahead, and looked around for a place to park the car, without raising too much suspicion.

Luck was on her side. Tall grass and bushes run along the side of the road opposite from the lot, it's not ideal but it was better than nothing. After hiding the car as well as she can, Parker approached the lot, using the tall grass as a cover.

She could see Nate's turquoise car gleaming in the afternoon sun, the only car sitting in the lot. Standing directly opposite the lot, she was fairly confident that there were no guards or any cameras on the car and sprinted towards Nate's car. She pressed the unlock button on the spare key and was about to open the driver side door when she heard a faint sound of a phone ringing, which got louder until it was abruptly replaced by a cold mechanical voice, _"Good day to you Mrs Ford…"_

* * *

><p>For the longest time, the three of them remained rooted to the spot. Hardison paralysed with fear for both the mastermind and the blond thief, Sophie overwhelmed by emotions and harsh reality of the situation and Eliot trying to find the fastest way to get them out of here. Eliot recovered first.<p>

"Hardison! Do we have a safe house yet?" he asked sharply, bringing the other two back to reality.

"I am working on it. On top of trying to find more information about Kadjic and Blackpoole and tracing the phone call and keeping an eye on cameras around the house and the empty lot because Parker is out there alone! I am the best at what I do but even I can only do so many things at once." Hardison snapped back.

"Then prioritize your work better. Dammit Hardison."

"_Guys! Stop it!"_ Parker's voice came over the coms. _"Arguing is not going to help Nate. I've search through the car. It's clean. No blood or anything and doesn't __look like anything's been taken."_

"Parker, leave the car where it is and get back here. Blackpoole doesn't sound like he's joking around, I need us to stick together."

"_Got it. On my way back now."_

* * *

><p>The pounding in his head was getting steadily worse as he slowly gain consciousness. Blinking slowly, his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room he's currently in. Moving to a sitting position, her felt his back scream in protest. He took a moment to check himself for any injuries but other then feeling like he was having a hell of a hangover, a small burnt mark on his neck and a stiff back, he was good as new.<p>

_Tazer_, he thought to himself, rubbing at the wound. For a wild moment, he wondered if this was Parker's idea of a joke, but he dismissed it immediately. Out of habit, he lifted his left wrist, only to discover his watch is missing, they must have taken it. He stuck his hands into his pockets and was relieved to find that he still had his wallet. He looked through the contents but found nothing of use.

_I should probably keep a lock pick in my wallet_, he mused to himself, thoughts drifting back to the blond thief. The driver's license proclaimed his name as Sam White but that was not what his attackers had called him.

_"Mr Ford, come quietly with us and maybe we won't kill your wife and daughter." _The man had said.

Nate looked around, trying to identify his location. The room was empty of any furniture and the only window had been sealed up. The room was lit only by a single naked light bulb, so he has no way of telling the time. The threadbare carpet and the peeling white paint on the walls gave the place a feeling of neglect.

He moved towards the door, compared to the rest of the room, it looked new. _Reinforced steel_, he observed and noting the lack of a keyhole, _electronic lock_. Someone was very determined to keep him here. There was a slim flap near the bottom of the door, much like a letter flap but longer. Nate lifted it and peered out.

It was pitch black on the other side and whatever dim light that shone out from his prison, fell only on the bare ground and empty space in front of the door. He let out a sigh and dropped the flap.

It was then he noticed a tray on the floor with a small bottle of water and two thin slices of stale bread. At the sight of food, his stomach gave an involuntary rumble. Nate tried to remember the last time he ate anything. It must have been just before he left for the pub. Lunch, with his beautiful wife and daughter. He must have been out for quite a few hours, judging by how hungry he was feeling.

The men who took him, there were three he recalled, two who came into the pub and one already in his car when he went outside, had made him call home to say he would be late returning. This was very well planned; they had studied their routines.

He had hoped Sophie would pick up the call, if only to hear her voice one last time should this thing go south. Nate shook his head, _no, let's not go there yet._ He was fairly confident that Sophie had got the little hint he dropped into the voicemail and had called the others as they had agreed on long ago. They would come for him, of that he had no doubt.

.

His growling tummy brought him back to the meagre food supply now sitting at his feet. He was not entirely sure why he was so hesitant about eating, although it probably has to do with how this entire situation had thrown him quite a bit. It wasn't so much the getting kidnapped part than the fact that they had known his real name.

_"My name is Sam White. I have no idea who this Mr Ford that you are looking for is."_

_"Don't try to play games with me Nathan Ford."_ One of the men had replied while the other roughly pushed his gun barrel against his lower back again. He was no Eliot and decided that it was a wiser decision to go along with them.

Nate weighed in his head the possibility that the food and water may be drugged against his need for nourishment and decided he would at least have to drink the water for now. He stuffed the bread into his pockets, picked up the bottle of water and retreated to the back corner. Slowly sipping the water, Nate ran through the events of the afternoon in his mind.

He had arrived at the pub around 1pm as per usual; he had just started on some paperwork in the office when he heard the backdoor open. He had glanced at the clock, surprised that it was only half past one. Matthew, his manager, didn't usually arrive until after two.

Stepping out to greet the newcomer, Nate saw a casually dressed man with soft straw-coloured hair and emerald coloured eyes that were devoid of warmth.

"Mr Ford, come quietly with us and maybe we won't kill your wife and daughter." The man had greeted, and Nate had felt the hard round barrel of a gun pressed against his back. They had made him call Matthew from the office, feigning an illness before shoving him into his own car and blindfolding him.

Nate leaned back on the seat and tried to focus on the turns the car was taking. He gave up after a while, it was clear that they were deliberately making multiple turns to throw him off. He estimated that they had travelled for approximately two hours when the car stopped and the blindfold was taken off. He blinked rapidly, adjusting to bright sunlight.

Green eyes handed him a burner cell, instructing him to call Sophie. They must have tazed him after he made the call because all he remembered was a searing white-hot pain before the darkness claimed him. He had emptied the bottle by then and threw the bottle aside.

It was time to make a plan.

* * *

><p>Parker made her appearance thirty minutes later, this time parking the car in the garage. She made her way back into the living room where the others are gathered.<p>

"Guys, I've tracked the call. It came from a warehouse about 50 miles from here. It's owned by a shell company, tracing down the origins now as we are speaking." Hardison said once Parker entered.

"We have to go there. That must be where they are holding Nate." Parker said immediately.

"It's a trap. We have no information on that place and Nate might not actually be there." Eliot retorted.

"But Nate might also be there right? Shouldn't we at least do a recon?"

"This is not just a job Parker. Ian Blackpoole wants us dead and you're just making it easier for him by walking straight into his trap. And I'm not letting us split up now, I can't protect you if I can't see you."

"Then we get reinforcements. We can call Tara or Quinn or…"

"No Parker. We call no one. Someone found out where Sophie and Nate are, and they most likely went to a lot of trouble to do it. We call anybody now and either we put a target on their back or they sell us out. It's too risky."

"So you're just going to let Nate to die? I run this crew now and I say we check the warehouse out. Hardison can hack into their security system or whatever, right Hardison?" Sophie could see Eliot was ready to knock some sense into the blond thief and quickly stood up, holding the man's arm gently but firmly, relived when Eliot seem to relax a little.

"Everybody calm down for a moment. I'm not letting any of you walk straight into a trap but if you think I'm just going to sit around and wait for Blackpoole to drive us into a corner you're wrong. Hardison can get us more information then we can make a plan."

"Fine. But one way or another, we have to get to the warehouse. I will go alone if I have to." Parker replied.

Eliot closed his eyes and pinched his nose bridge. He recognized that tone of voice; there would be no stopping Parker or Sophie from going to that warehouse. He could feel a headache coming on as he made a decision.

"Fine, we will go to the warehouse, but I'm the retrieval specialist so I will be running this. Whatever I say, you do. No questions asked or so help me I will knock you out cold and drag your body to a safe house." Three head nodded almost simultaneously.

"I've secured a place that will work as a safe house Eliot. What's the top priority now?"

"I want eyes and ears on that warehouse Hardison, the rest of you be ready to leave anytime."


	7. Chapter 7: The Forgotten Hostage

**A/N: I am on a roll, another new chapter up. Sidenote: I must be really slow because I only recently discovered there are three Leverage novels. You can be sure I tripped over myself running to the library to check all three out. **

**I just finished 'The Con Job' and 'The Zoo Job'. The Con Job was awesome! Although I might be bias because it combines Comic Con and Leverage, two of my favourite things but I prefer the writing style of The Zoo Job, which flowed more like an actual episode of the show. Can't wait to sink my teeth into the last one now that I've posted this chapter.**

**.**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

_._

_Chapter 7: The Forgotten Hostage_

.

Nate jerked awake suddenly. He must have dozed off without realising it. Without his watch or windows, he couldn't tell how long he was out for or how long he has already been taken. He move to sit up from the awkward half lying position he had woken up from, his protesting back reminding him that age was catching up with him. There's nothing in the world Nate wanted more at the moment than a drink but he had to content with forcing down the two slices of bread.

_Damn, __I might really be too old for this_. The empty bottle and food tray from earlier was still in the room, leading him to conclude that he has had no visitors while he had been out. In fact, the deafening silence around him makes him wonder if there were anybody out there at all. This struck him as rather odd.

_Who kidnaps a person then leaves him alone in a cell_ _without a single __guard_. Granted the cell looked rather escaped proof for someone who is unarmed and alone but surely if his captors had managed to discover his true identity, they must know who he works with, _used to work with_, he corrected himself. It seem rather careless to expect that four walls and a reinforced door is enough to keep him in.

Before his unscheduled nap, Nate had reluctantly concluded that there was no way he was breaking himself out of his cell. He was determined not to worry about the safety of Sophie and Maria, holding on to the belief that help in the form of Eliot, Parker and Hardison had arrived and they would take care of each other.

Instead, he focused his energy on trying to figure out how his captors had discovered their identities. Sophie and Nate had separately seek out a number of old contacts and had multiple identities made. They had travelled to a couple of cities, each time under a different identity to lay a false trail, before settling down in Buffalo.

Their current identities hadn't even been the ones they had bought, they had created the aliases themselves using the skills Hardison had taught them over the years. Whoever it was, they must be very resourceful and patient and clearly very determined to hunt them down.

Over the years, they had taken down so many powerful men and women that it's hard to come up with a list of possible suspects. Nate knows that Hardison keeps tabs on every person they have taken down, and he starts to wonder if his choice of not doing so will be a fatal mistake.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud rumble that echoed through the cell, followed by weak rays of light seeping in from under the door. Footsteps, muffled at first, growing louder as the seconds ticked by approached the cell.

Someone was coming.

.

It turned out to be two someones that came to collect Nate from his cell. Both men were pointing their guns at him, _safety off_, and the left one signalled him to move towards them. Nate approached them cautiously, the awareness that he did not even have half the skills of Eliot hitting him again. One of them slapped a pair of cuffs on his wrists before roughly dragging him off.

Nate looked around and guessed that he was in a warehouse of some sort. His cell looked to have been used as an office previously and stood at the right most end of the building. Apart from the row of similar looking doors next to his, the warehouse looked empty.

The guards led him down the row of doors, stopping only at the second last door, where the one who wasn't keeping a firm hold on him scanned a card at the reader on the door. A beep signalled that the door had unlocked and Nate was unceremoniously shoved into the room.

It was smaller than his cell but better furnished, with a desk, a couple of office chairs and what looked to be a mini bar. The guards sat him down on one of the office chairs and cuffed him to the armrest before leaving the room. Nate was not left alone for long, a second beep signalled the arrival of someone else, a very familiar someone else.

"Hello Nathan, it's been a while."

"Ian." Nate said calmly, his face betraying none of the surprise he was feeling at the sight of his ex-employer. A different armed guard had accompanied Ian Blackpoole in.

"I thought it would be nice to visit you for a chat instead, considering you showed up unannounced the last two times we met." Nate said nothing and just continued to stare at some undetermined spot behind Blackpoole.

"You know Nate, I gave you many opportunities, enabled you to rise up the ranks at IYS in record time. Enabled you to have a comfy life, earning a good salary and travelling all over the world, which allowed you to carry out your little trysts with that art thief, what's her name again? Ah yes, Sophie Devereaux."

At that last point, Nate turned to stare at Blackpoole, who thought he spied a flash of rage in the former's eyes which was gone just as quickly. Not getting a response from his former star employee, Blackpoole continued.

"Imagine my surprise when I found out the identity of your new wife, Nate. It certainly explains why you always seem to retrieve the stolen goods but never quite apprehend the thief. So what's the deal? You catch her and obtain the goods but she sleeps with you and you let her go?" Blackpoole smirked on seeing the rage now evident in Nate's eyes.

"How did you find me." Nate said finally in a clipped tone as he struggled to keep his anger down.

"It's a fascinating story actually but perhaps I could interest you in some photos first." Blackpoole replied, walking to the other side of the desk he had been perched on to retrieve a manila envelop from the top drawer.

He pulled out a pile of photographs with a flourish and studied each one for a moment before turning it over to show Nate. The first few were photos of his team, taken most likely on their days off, judging by their relaxed expressions. Having not seen them for a little over three years, he had no idea when they were taken but he could tell that they had been taken via long range lens on a few different occasions.

"You know, it really wasn't that hard to track down your little team. Just had to follow the trail of fallen CEOs they left in their wake. You, on the other hand, proved to be a bigger challenge." Blackpoole commented as he showed Nate more photos, this time of Sophie and Maria about town and a couple of the three of them at home.

These, he knew, feeling the knot in his stomach tightening, were taken recently, he recognised the sparkly top Maria was wearing as the one he had been "convinced" to buy for her while they were out a month ago.

"My initial plan was to how should I put it," he paused, "eliminate one of your little proteges. Surely, you would put in an appearance to say goodbye. Personally, I was leaning towards the young hacker, Hardison I believe? But as luck would have it, an associate of mine happen to be visiting some relatives in the area recently and imagine his delight when he discovered the owner of the hot new pub in town. The rest as they say is history."

"What exactly do you want Ian." Nate asked, traces of the rage boiling in him spilling out. Out of nowhere, Blackpoole directed a punch at his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him.

"I want you to pay Nate." Ian replied coldly, all traces of his phoney cheeriness gone. "You took everything from me. I am going to burn everything you love to the ground and leave you to live with the knowledge that you brought this on them." He swung another punch at him, this time hitting him squarely on his nose. Nate heard a crack and felt warm blood trickling down his face.

"I almost forgot, there is one last photo I have to show you." Nate looked up, the subject of the photo turning his blood cold and he felt the colour draining from his face.

"Leave her out of this. This has nothing to do with her."

"Really? Keep telling yourself that Nathan."

"You're a greedy son of a bitch Ian, but you are no killer. It's not too late to stop this madness."

"Please Nate, I have associates to handle these dirty little details for me and you're wrong. It's already too late." With that, he stood and left the room, letting the original two guards in to hail a storm of kicks and punches down on Nate. He gritted his teeth, determined not to scream.

The photo of Maggie that had been left behind burning into his retinas until at last his body could no longer tolerate the pain and he lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>"So what's the plan now Eliot?" Parker asked, already impatient. She had already spent the last hour pacing the house, driving the other three insane. Sophie had excused herself to go check on Maria 20 minutes ago and had not been down since.<p>

"I'll have one as soon as Hardison has the security info on the place." Eliot shot back.

"Hey hey hey, breathing down my neck isn't helping. Working as fast as I can here. How many times i gotta tell you people…"

"Alright already. Just shut up and get to work." Hardison opened his mouth to retort but then thought better of it. The stress of everything has them all on edge, especially Eliot. Over the last three years, Eliot's temper had gotten increasingly shorter.

Without the two older members as referee, the bickering tended to get out of hand too often. Hardison also knew that Eliot had taken his last promise to Sophie very seriously, and has added the weight of living up to Nate and Sophie's expectations on top of shouldering the responsibility of keeping all of them safe. All of these slowly eroding bit by bit the little patience the man has in the first place.

"I found the blueprints of the warehouse. They're old and I'm not sure how much help they will be but it's the best I've got. Now security wise according to everything I got so far, there are only two guards outside the warehouse. The place doesn't have any wifi for me to hack so we're blind inside. However, there's a junction box outside and if there are any cameras or what have yous, they will need to go through there. Just plant this drive there and I can get us some eyes and ears on the inside."

"Only two guards? I don't like this. It seem a little too easy." Eliot growled.

"As far as I can see. I can' tell you more until you plant this baby in the junction box." Hardison replied, holding up a USB drive.

Sophie chose this moment to reappear in the living room with a well-rested Maria who immediately ran over to Parker with a request to play. Sophie was an image of calm, only the slight puffiness of her eyes betrayed the breakdown a while ago.

"What did I miss?" She directed her question at Eliot as Maria led Parker back upstairs to retrieve some toys. Hardison repeated the information he told Eliot and Parker before turning to look expectantly at Eliot.

"Get Parker back down here. I'm ready to brief you all." Eliot said in reply.

.

"The plan is quick and simple. Parker and I will go to the warehouse. We'll take Sophie's car. Hardison, you and Sophie will set off at the same time in our rental and take Maria with them to the safe house. We will have to set out after dark, there's no cover around the warehouse, they'll see us coming. We plant Hardison's toy and rendezvous at the safe house."

"That's it? We're not even going to see if Nate is inside?" Parker demanded.

"We have no info on the inside Parker. We get the info and confirm that Nate is inside then we make another plan to go in." Eliot could see Parker was going to argue and cut her off.

"Look, I'm just as anxious as you are to get Nate back but I also have to keep you safe. All of you. And the whole setup is giving me a bad feeling. We traced the call in no time and by all appearance, security there is a joke. It's as if they are not even trying to stop us from finding Nate. Do you see how fishy that is?" That shut Parker up good.

"No." Sophie said.

"No? What do you mean no? We had a deal Soph and I mean what I said about knocking you out." Eliot shot back, he did not have time for this.

"I'm not about to flee to safety while the two of you walk into a trap. Besides, this could be their plan. Get Maria and me out of the house while you go off to get Nate and then use that opportunity to snatch us." Eliot had to admit that she had a point.

"But it doesn't discount the fact that the house isn't safe. They know where you live Soph. I would insist we all leave for the safe house now. Together. But I don't want to risk travelling back and forth from it if I can help it."

"There's an alternative. We have a panic room. Maria's bedroom actually. Reinforced everything and it's own separate power." Sophie replied.

"And you're only telling us this now?" Eliot asked, his tone a little too hard.

"With everything else that happened it slipped my mind. I'm sorry." Sophie apologised.

"It's fine." Eliot waved it off. "Doesn't change the plan much. Sophie, Maria and Hardison will lock themselves in before we leave. We'll be back here as soon as we can then we leave for the safe house immediately. If anything goes wrong, we'll turn around for you. Hopefully between Hardison's security and the room, you can hold off any threat until I get back."

"I have a gun for them too." Parker spoke up, producing a gun from nowhere.

"Girl, where the hell did that come from? No you know what, I don't want to know." Hardison said, putting both hands up in surrender. Sophie gingerly took it from Parker and left to find a place that would be both accessible and out of Maria's reach. Eliot let out a small sigh, he hated guns but sometimes desperate times calls for desperate measures.

He just hoped it won't have to come down to that.


	8. Chapter 8: Into the Storm

**I think I've finally figured out how to make the formatting much better on here. I hope this will improve your reading experience. :)**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

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_Chapter 8: Into the Storm_

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The rest of the afternoon seems to drag on. Hardison returned his attention to digging into Blackpoole's and Kadjic's background, chugging orange soda and chomping on gummy frogs at an increasingly alarming rate. Eliot busied himself completing the clean up that had been disrupted by Blackpoole's phone call while Parker made final preparations. Sophie tried to distract herself by focusing all her attention on her daughter but was failing. Maria must have sense the tension because she stopped trying to get her mother's attention after a while, choosing instead to play by herself.

To top it off, the stress and lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on the four adults. They ate an early dinner in relative silence, the only sound coming from Maria asking Parker, Eliot and Hardison questions about their adventures.

The sun was sinking slowly in the horizon; it was almost time to leave. Eliot and Parker made a quick final sweep of the house and packed all their stuff into the boot of Sophie's car. Hardison distracted Maria by offering to read her a story in her bedroom while Sophie pulled the other two aside.

"Both of you don't do anything rash alright? Just get back safe. Please." Her voice broke slightly at the last word.

Eliot put his hand on her arm. "We always do Soph. You just worry about yourself." He gave her a smile and tapped his ear. "Any problems just say the word and we'll be back in a jiff. I may even let Parker drive."

"You will?" Parker asked, cheering up. Eliot chose not to reply, turning instead to usher Sophie into Maria's bedroom, leaving only when he heard the tell tale click of the door locking.

Parker and Eliot parked the rental car at a small alley just before the turn on the street where the warehouse stood. The moonless night and lack of streetlights worked to their advantage, allowing them to stay in the shadows as they make their way on foot towards the warehouse. From a distance, Eliot spotted the two stationary guards Hardison had told them about… and two patrolling guards Hardison had not told them about.

"_Dammit Hardison. They have two other guys patrolling the perimeter. How did you miss that?"_

"_Hey. I was on a deadline. And I warned you the information may not be 100% accurate."_

"_Hardison, where is the junction box again?" _Parker asked, hoping to avoid another round of bickering between the two guys.

"_It's at the far side of the warehouse, facing away from you."_ Parker threw a side way glance at Eliot who gave a curt nod, acknowledging the information.

"_Got it." _

"We have to take out the patrolling guards first. I'll take out the two guards up front while you plant Hardison's thingamajig." Parker gave a nod and both set off towards their target. The empty field provided zero cover and Eliot was once again thankful for the cover the darkness provided.

The two patrolling guards were chatting about last night's game, not paying too much attention to their surroundings. Parker sneaked up behind one of them and tazed him; a cry of surprise barely left his lips before he collapsed on the ground. Eliot had the other guard in a chokehold, his grip never loosen even as the guard clawed at him, until he passed out.

Dropping the guard next to his companion, Eliot headed to the right side of the warehouse, running along the guards' route to where the front guards are situated while Parker ran towards the left, where the junction box was located.

Eliot had decided the element of surprise was his best weapon and charged at the two guards. Surprised by the sudden appearance of an intruder, the guards barely had time to reach for their weapons before Eliot had slammed into the guard nearer to him, the momentum causing him to stumble backwards and fall onto his partner. They regained their footing quickly and reached for their weapons.

Eliot was ready for them, grabbing the first guard by the arm and delivering a swift blow to his throat. As the guard struggled to catch his breath, Eliot twisted his arm, causing him to drop his weapon. Eliot ducked to retrieve it, allowing the second guard's bullet to sail harmlessly into the expanse behind him.

"_It's done."_ Parker's voice came over the coms as Eliot emptied the magazine and threw the empty weapon away. The second guard had managed to shove his buddy out of the way and had aimed his gun at Eliot's face with a smirk on his face. Which was probably why he never saw Eliot's kick coming until he felt a sharp pain at his wrist, causing him to drop his gun in pain.

Eliot head-butted him, knocking him out for good before turning around and delivering a swift punch to the first guard's temple, knocking him out cold. Eliot picked up the second gun and empty the magazine as Parker came into sight, a grin on her face.

"Let's get out of here in case these guys have friends." Eliot growled, ushering Parker in the direction of their car. A barely stifled gasp over the coms stopped them in their tracks.

"_Er Eliot, I think you have to change your plans."_

"_Dammit Hardison, we've been through-"_

"_No listen to me. Nate is in the warehouse. They have him locked up in one of the old offices and guys they knock him up real good, he's just lying there not moving. You have to get him out now."_

Without a glance at Eliot, Parker had already made her way to the door, standing by for Hardison to give them their way in. Without hesitation, Eliot followed behind. Despite everything he had said earlier, there had been no doubt in his mind that the moment there was any indication that Nate was in the warehouse, they would not be leaving without him.

The soft sobs that now punctuate the conversation over the coms threw Eliot a little. Sophie almost never broke down in the middle of a job, Nate must be in really bad shape. As much as he wanted to offer some words of comfort, he had to focus on the job on hand and leave that job to Hardison.

"_We're running blind here Hardison. Give us something." _Eliot barked over the coms.

"_I'm looping the video feed now. The only security measures they have inside are the cameras and a keypad lock at Nate's cell door. No guards, no other sensors or anything. Now, I can only hack anything electronic. If there are any mechanical measures…"_

"_We'll take care of it. Just make sure we don't get surprised by backups or whatever." _Parker interrupted, already impatient to get in.

"_Way ahead of you babe. Oh and take one of the key cards from the guards, you need it to open the room door" _came the reply. A soft click indicated the door had been unlocked. Eliot opened it cautiously but the door just swung open harmlessly.

The warehouse was pitch dark, save for the dim light peeking out from under a door on the far right side. All of sudden, the warehouse was flooded with light and Eliot tensed, while blinking rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness, thinking they have been caught.

"_And then there was light. You're welcome. Nate's in the right most room."_

"_Got it."_ Eliot answered, as he and Parker took off together towards the door. Once they were outside the door, Parker produced the keycard she had swiped off one of the guards and scanned it. A beep indicated the door was unlocked and Eliot pushed open the door and spotted the mastermind lying unconscious on the floor just beyond the door. A small pool of dried blood around him.

"_We found him." _Parker reported as Eliot knelt down to check on Nate.

"_I found a pulse but it's weak. It looks like he only has some cuts and bruises." _Eliot said as he lifted Nate's shirt and saw the huge patches of dark purplish skin on his torso. _"Internal bleeding. We need to get him to a hospital now. Parker. Go get the car, I'll meet you up front."_ Without a word, Parker turned to leave only for the door to slam shut and lock itself with a resounding click. Eliot had been trying to lift the older man off the ground, stopped what he was doing and whipped his head around.

"_Dammit Hardison!"_

"_Some sort of silent alarm just tripped. I'm trying to see where the signal is being sent."_

"_Hardison. Forget about that for now, just get us out first." _Parker yelled, her voice echoing in the room.

"_Working on it, working on it. Just give me a sec." _After what seem like an eternity, the door gave a beep again. Parker leapt up and threw the door open while Eliot half dragged, half carried Nate across the threshold. Once they cleared the room, Parker ran ahead and out of the warehouse.

Eliot pulled Nate to a standing position and looped his hand across the older man's back, gripping on to him by his belt. As they made their way across the warehouse, Eliot tried not to think about the additional damage he was doing to Nate's injuries. At the entrance, Eliot was relieved to see Parker already waiting with the car. One of the guards was starting to stir but was quickly taken care of by Parker and her tazer.

"Get in the back with Nate." Eliot ordered Parker as she threw the backseat door open. Eliot jumped into the driver seat and gunned the engine.

"_Are we clear Hardison?"_ Eliot asked urgently.

"_You're good. I don't see any cars approaching your position but I'm still trying to track who was on the receiving end of that damn alarm."_

"_Don't bother with that now Hardison, here's the new plan."_

* * *

><p><em>Nate was unsure where he was. The vast hall was elaborately decorated. Venetian columns rise up to the celling, which was filled with what looked like depictions of angels. Nate thought they looked vaguely familiar but no matter how he squinted, the pictures remain blurry and he was unable to make out the details. <em>

_When he brought his eyes back down, there was a woman standing in front of him. Her dark brown hair was swept up in a simple but elegant updo and a Venetian mask obscured her face. She was wearing a long, strapless fishtail dress of deep emerald green that hugged her curves._

"_Sophie?" Nate asked tentatively, his hand reaching forward to touch her. She was further than he thought. He tried to move towards her but something was holding him back. Nate turned around. A familiar blond was staring at him, her eyes strangely vacant. _

"_Maggie?"_

"_Why did you kill me Nate? Why?" Maggie's hollow voice rang out, her eyes staring accusingly. Nate tried to answer but no sound came out of his mouth. A gunshot rang out and a bloom of red started to grow on Maggie's torso. Nate glanced down at his hands, horrified to find himself holding the smoking gun. _

"_Nate. Nate." A distant voice called. He looked up again, trying to find the source of the voice._

"_Nate, can you hear me?" He has heard this voice before. _

"_Sophie?" He felt a sharp pain in his head and the darkness claimed him again._

* * *

><p>"Nate, can you hear me?" Parker muttered urgently as Eliot sped towards the hospital, barking instructions to Hardison over the coms. Parker tuned them all out and focused her attention on Nate. She had been trying to rouse him to no avail since they got into the car. Nate gave a small moan, stirring a little and Parker felt the small spark of hope in her grew.<p>

"Nate? We're taking you to the hospital. Just hold on for a little while more ok?" Nate mumbled incoherently and Parker leaned closer to him.

"Sophie and Maria are safe Nate. Hardison is with them now." Parker tried to assure the man. A single word left his lips before his head lolled to the side again. Parker frowned but whatever thoughts she had were interrupted by Eliot's voice.

"We're almost there Parker, get ready."

.

Eliot could feel a headache building as he sped towards the hospital. Even after almost a decade, coming up with a plan on the fly was still not his strongest point. He silently cursed himself for not taking into account the possibility that they would actually have to extract a badly injured Nate form the warehouse. He had been too focused on considering the various ways Blackpoole could spring a trap on them. Well, no use crying over spilled milk now.

"Parker, check and see if Nate has any identity on him." Parker deftly removed the wallet from Nate's pocket.

"He has a driver's license for Sam White." She frowned. "That's all. He only has one identity on him. Since when does Nate travel with only one identity?"

"Since he and Sophie retired from the business Parker."

"Oh."

"Put his wallet back Parker. When we get to the hospital you are going to pretend you found him at the side of the road. They will report it to the authorities and will want you to wait and talk to them. Sneak out as soon as you can, I'll meet you down the road. We will need to ditch this one and get another car to pick up Hardison."

"_I can scrub your images from the hospital cams."_

"No. Our priority now is to get Nate medical attention. We can cover our tracks later. Sophie, you wait for the hospital to contact you. Bring Maria with you to the hospital and stay there until you hear from me. Hardison, give Sophie a two minutes headstart then leave the house, we'll pick you up at the end of the road."

Eliot looked at Parker and Nate through the rearview mirror. The older man was not doing well. He stepped harder on the accelerator, feeling slightly relieved when the hospital came into view.

"We're almost there Parker, get ready." He pulled up at the emergency room entrance and sped off as soon as Parker had dragged Nate out of the car. He was quite sure the security cams had not captured his face but there was no way to hide the car plate. He had barely found a relatively hidden spot to park the car when Parker appeared and jumped into the front seat.

"The doctors have him." Parker said simply as Eliot stepped on the accelerator. Parker's words had done little to alleviate his worries about Nate's condition. That would have to wait until Sophie got to the hospital.


	9. Chapter 9: The Diversion

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

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_Chapter 9: The Diversion_

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Sophie leaned against Maria's bed, her legs tucked under her as she reads a story to Maria. Hardison sat opposite them, typing furiously on his laptop. It appeared that she was destined to spend a second sleepless night in this room.

Hardison paused for a moment and looked up from the screen at Sophie. Now that he had the time to take a close look at her, he could see fine lines radiating from her eyes that had not been there three years ago. Dark eye bags had also appeared under her eyes, which to be fair, could have been exacerbated by their current situation.

Sophie caught his eye at that moment and Hardison tried to give her, what he hoped, was an encouraging smile. Sophie returned with a small smile. Words were not necessary for them to communicate. Hardison took another swig of his orange soda, popped a few gummy frogs and returned his attention to the laptop.

Sophie's thoughts drifted to the last time she had seen Nate. It was hard to believe that it had only been a little more than a day ago. He had kissed her good bye and promised to return for dinner. She had returned the kiss, voicing her concerns about her acting class's readiness for the production. He had given her another kiss, proclaiming his everlasting faith in her abilities to perform miracles and stepped out of the house. It had been just another ordinary day. Until it wasn't.

"Mommy? Why isn't daddy home?" Maria's question brought Sophie's thoughts back to the present. She stretched out her legs and pulled her daughter into her lap, hugging her close. She buried her nose into her thick dark hair that was so like her own, breathing in the fruity scent of her shampoo.

"Maria darling, do you remember mommy telling you that Princess Parker and Sir Eli had to go out on a mission?" Maria nodded. "Well, daddy got into a little trouble so they are off to help him."

Maria gave a little frown, popped a stolen gummy frog into her mouth and considered her mother's words.

"Daddy's coming home with them?" Maria asked. Hardison looked up at Sophie with sympathy. Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"That's what they will try their best to do darling." Sophie answered.

"I miss daddy." Maria declared, snuggling close to her mother. Sophie hugged her tightly, trying to hold back the tears threatening to escape. _You and me both, darling, you and me both._

* * *

><p>Sophie tucked Maria into bed, snuggling with her until the young girl had fallen asleep. The room was in semi darkness, lit only by the soft glow of Hardison's laptop screen and the Harry Potter nightlight in a corner. Sophie crossed over the room to sit next to Hardison, both anxiously waiting for Parker to plant the drive and trying to keep track of their progress over the coms.<p>

A series of dings followed by a number of new windows popped up on Hardison's screen. A beat later, Parker's voice came on the coms, over the sounds of Eliot taking out the guards.

"_It's done."_

A few taps on the keyboard later and they had the camera feeds up. They scanned the windows, which gave a pretty good view of the empty warehouse, with a row of what used to be offices but had doors with electronic locks. Hardison brought up more windows and the image on one of them caused Sophie to give an involuntary gasp.

Whatever Hardison said to Parker and Eliot was lost to Sophie, the conversation like a faded buzz in her subconscious. All she could focus on was Nate. Nate lying motionless on the floor. Nate in a pool of blood. Nate dead. She had not realise she was crying until Hardison patted her arm gently.

"Sophie? Maybe you should go checked on Maria." Hardison's voice was gentle but firm.

She stood and crossed the room to where her daughter was in deep slumber. Sophie was an actress, a grifter and as such was an emotional person by nature. But never had she found herself to lose control so easily.

For the first time, the thought of losing Nate was too much to take. She looked at her daughter and the realisation that she would have to raise her alone terrified her. What did she know about colleges and career plans? She vaguely registered Eliot saying he found a pulse and she felt a small flicker of hope.

Hardison's urgent proclamation of an alarm snapped her back to attention. She mentally pushed aside her insecurities and anxieties; they were not out of the woods yet. She steeled herself; there would be time for crying later.

.

Sophie had gathered up the small number of toys and books Maria had in her bedroom and put them all into the old diaper bag she had packed the previous night and handed it to Hardison. She paced the small room, waiting for the inevitable call from the hospital.

"_Parker got us another car, we are on the way back now."_ Eliot updated. The house phone started ringing in the distant. Sophie ran to the set in the room, muted to avoid waking Maria, and took a deep breath. She allowed the phone to ring a couple more times before she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Nancy calling from the Buffalo Mercy Hospital. I'm looking for a Mrs Lara White?"

"Yes I'm Lara White. What's this about?"

"Mrs White, your husband was brought in a while ago with serious injuries, we need you to come down to the hospital immediately."

"What? What happened? How is he now?"

"He's in surgery now ma'am. Please come down as soon as you can and the doctor can tell you more when you get here."

"Yes, thank you." Sophie hung up and went to wake her daughter. Maria woke in confusion and started to kick up a fuss. The promise of finally seeing her father calm the girl down enough for Sophie to get her ready to leave.

"_We're here Sophie, you can leave now. We got your back. Hardison, two minutes and you get out too. Remember to check that we cleared everything."_ Eliot's voice came over the coms. Sophie took a moment to step back into the shoes of Lara White and unlocked the room door.

* * *

><p>Sophie was shown to the waiting room outside of the surgery, where a police officer was waiting for her. He was a fresh-faced kid, with a mop of shocking red hair, pale skin and a cluster of freckles on his nose.<p>

He introduced himself as Officer Carter and offered his sympathies at her current situation. _You don't know half of it kid. _Sophie thought to herself.

She answered Officer Carter's questions in a distracted voice, concern for her husband's condition etched on her face. They established that Sam White had been ill since the previous day but had been feeling much better by lunchtime today. Workaholic that he was, he had wanted to pop into the pub to catch up on paperwork and the couple had gotten into a small tiff over it.

Lara had finally relented after dinner and he promised to be back in a couple of hours. She hadn't been too worried when he wasn't back by the promised time; he gets caught up in work sometimes, until the hospital had called.

At this point, she had broke down a little and implored Officer Carter to find out what happened to her husband. With a promise to do their best, Officer Carter left mother and daughter to wait on the outcome of the surgery.

* * *

><p>Maria had fallen asleep on the car ride to the hospital and miraculously remained in slumber all through the interview.<p>

"_We're holed up at a nearby hotel Sophie. Hardison has hacked into the hospital system and security cameras. We'll be monitoring from here." _Parker reported after Officer Carter has taken his leave

"_I thought you were all going to the safe house."_ Sophie whispered.

"_The safe house is too far from here. I won't be able to get to you if anything goes wrong. We'll stay close until we know more about Nate's condition"_ Eliot answered.

Sophie nodded, knowing they would see her response over the camera. She tried to get into a comfortable position on the hard plastic chair, taking care not to jolt Maria, whose head was now resting on her thighs, and settle in to wait for the doctor to emerge from the room at the end of the corridor.

.

Eliot signalled to the other two to remove their ear buds. Hardison can monitor Sophie's coms on his laptop. They had managed to secure a suite at a nearby hotel and were now gathered in the living area, Hardison's gear already crowding the small coffee table.

Eliot dug through the duffle bag with their personal items for a change of clothes, he needed a hot shower to clear his head and plan their next move. Parker curled up on the sofa, watching the hospital's camera feeds, while Hardison next to her busied himself checking through the hospital's staff list, prioritizing those currently on duty.

As the adrenaline rush from the night's activities started to fade, Parker could feel fatigue taking over her body. Her eyelids started to droop and she was about to doze off when Eliot stepped out from the bathroom, towel drying his hair and approached the pair.

"Anything out of place Hardison?"

"Nope, all the on duty staff checks out. I'm running the off duty ones now. Facial recognition hasn't picked up anything on the cameras either."

"You think they will come back to finish the job?" Parker asked.

"No I think they will come for Sophie and Maria." Eliot replied. "We're missing something. The people who took Nate were professionals, the car, the phone calls. Those guards at the warehouse are just hired thugs. It doesn't add up" Shaking his head, Eliot continued "Both of you wash up and try to get some rest. I'll watch over the monitors and wake you up if there's anything new."

* * *

><p>It was almost three in the morning but the doctor still hadn't made an appearance. Eliot turned on his coms and spoke softly.<p>

"_Sophie? How are you holding up?"_

"_Alright I guess. I really just want the doctor to tell me how Nate is. This waiting, it's torturous." _A sigh. _"Where are Parker and Hardison?"_

"_Sleeping I hope. If they're taking this long it means they haven't given up on him yet."_

Eliot hadn't realised that Hardison had set the volume on his laptop on maximum. As such, the sudden blaring of the alarm gave him such a jolt that Parker and Hardison were already racing out of the adjacent bedroom, before he recovered.

"_What the bloody hell is that blaring Eliot?"_ Sophie winced at the sharp wail in her ear.

"Dammit Hardison. You're going to wake the entire building"

Hardison was already frantically checking the warning windows and turning down the volume.

"What is it Hardison? Is it the hospital? Soph and Maria in danger?" Eliot asked urgently.

"No it wasn't the hospital. There's been a breakout at one of Interpol's prison. And… oh hell no, Tony Kadjic's in the wind."

"Dammit. That's it right there. They took Nate to ensure our attention will be focused on getting Nate and they could spring Tony Kadjic from prison." Eliot snapped, his knuckles white from clenching. Another shark had just appeared in the tumultuous they were swimming in. He really wanted to hit something.

"Wait. I just remembered something else." Parker exclaimed, a look of horror on her face. "Nate mentioned Maggie in the car while we were driving to the hospital." Without prompting, Hardison was already typing away furiously, trying to locate her.

"She's at her apartment in LA. Her car is in the parking lot and GPS on her phone puts her in the building."

"Give me her cell number, and keep a close eye on the hospital cams." Eliot said, pulling out his phone. He dialled the number Hardison read out and willed Maggie to pick up the call. The call connected and rang. And rang. And rang.

"It's going to her voicemail. Do you have the security footage of her building? Go back a few hours and see if you can see her actually coming home." Hardison nodded, fingers flying across the keyboard.

"Wait! Is that a man coming out of her apartment?" Parker cried out, finger hitting the pause button. The camera was situated at the end of the corridor, a distance away from Maggie's apartment; making it hard to judge exactly which door the mysterious man was coming out from.

Hardison rewind the clip and played it again, this time at regular speed. All three peered closely at the slightly pixelated clip and this time Eliot saw something that made his blood run cold.

"Parker, make an anonymous call to the LAPD, pretend to be a neighbour or something. That man had a gun."

"_What?"_ Sophie's shocked voice came over the coms.

Hardison plugged Parker's cellphone to his laptop before handing it to her. "I've spoofed your number such that it appears you are calling from LA."

As Parker made the call, he pulled up the other camera feeds, trying to put a face to the mysterious man but failed. The man knew where the cameras were situated and had avoid looking at all of them. Hardison switched the feeds back to real time and the three of them crowded around the small screen, waiting for the police to arrive.

.

The scene that unfolded on the screen seemed unreal.

Two police officers had arrived and knocked on the door only to discover that it was not closed all the way. They had then drawn their weapons and moved cautiously into the apartment. After a few minutes, one of them left the apartment and returned with police tape to seal off the apartment.

Still, the team clung on to the small silver of hope. Even when a forensic team arrived shortly after, instead of the paramedics.

When the coroner emerged from the apartment with the body bag, Hardison turned off the feed and leaned back, closing his eyes. Eliot updated Sophie over the coms, then turned it off, cursing under his breath. Parker remained frozen at her spot on the sofa, tears pouring silently down her face.

.

Sophie sat on the hard plastic chair, listening to Eliot's updates on the situation at Maggie's apartment. The whole situation seemed surreal to her. They had been so focused on their own little family they had overlooked the vulnerable just outside of their circle.

And now, not only is a dangerous man on the loose, an innocent had paid the price for their oversight.

Already on edge from the events of the last couple of days, the anxiety and despair that threaten to overwhelm her. _This is not over yet._ Her grip on Maria tightened and she could feel the girl stirring a little. _Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out_. Sophie gathered the strength to focus on the job at hand.

"Family of Sam White?"

"Yes, I'm his wife Lara."

"I'm Dr Kelly. Your husband is out of surgery."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I have been rereading A Storm of Swords and it may or may not have led me to be more trigger-happy. Ok, you may now yell at me if you are so inclined.**


	10. Chapter 10: Of Love and Loss

**A/N: I apologise for the long wait. The characters and I had a disagreement over the road to take to get on with the story. This is the longest chapter I've ever written so I hope you will forgive my tardiness. :)**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 10: Of Love and Loss_

.

Ian Blackpoole turned in his leather chair and looked out of the window. Downtown Los Angeles spread beneath his feet from thirty stories up. He swirled the whiskey in his glass before taking another sip. At 9 pm sharp, there was a sharp knock on the door. _Right on time as always._

"Come in." The door opened to reveal a short, stocky man dressed impeccably in a well-tailored suit. He had the same square jaw as his brother but his eyes are set a little too wide apart, his nose crooked from being broken one too many times and his hairline already receding.

Edi Kadjic was the less good looking of the brothers, serving a more behind the scenes role until he was forced into the spotlight following the arrest of Tony.

"It's done?" Blackpoole asked as he poured Edi a drink.

"The woman has been taken care of." Edi replied simply, accepting the drink.

"And Ford?"

"Locked up tight." Edi took a sip of the whiskey, closing his eyes as the liquid burn its way down the throat. "My brother will be here in a couple of days, I trust the arrangements have been made to, ah, facilitate his border crossing?"

"All done as agreed. He should have no problems at all." Blackpoole replied, raising his glass to eye level. "A toast then, to your family reunion?"

Edi Kadjic raised his glass in salute and drained the liquor. He put the empty glass on the table and stood, gave a small nod to Blackpoole and stepped out of the office.

Blackpoole returned to his position of staring out his window. The rest of the office has been emptied hours ago but there's no telling who might happen by if he were to leave with Edi.

One can never be too careful about such things.

His current office was about half the size of his old office in IYS but what his current position lacks in luxury and prestige, it made up for in terms of power. He poured himself another finger of whiskey and reflected on the last few years.

He had struggled for a couple of years after being booted out of IYS, living on whatever assets and cash he had managed to squirrel away.

That had all change the day he met Edi Kadjic.

The man had approached him with a job offer, to run a shipping company. He had been suspicious about the man's intentions until he had brought up Nathan Ford. By then, Nate's team had gained a certain level of infamy among a selected group of people.

Edi had explained how Nate's testimony had put his brother behind bars and exposed their shipping channel in Boston, dealing a devastating blow to their business. They now have their sights set on the Los Angeles port and wanted Blackpoole to help them grease some palms and schmooze some politicians. Blackpoole may have left IYS in disgrace but he still had connections in some high places.

Opinions of him among those people had drifted from disgust towards sympathy as more of Nate's victims came to light. Not that any of them had the guts to confront him head on. These are people whose primary concerns are saving their own skins after all.

Blackpoole had finally been convinced when Edi readily agreed to support any plans he might have to take down Nate and his crew and sealed their agreement over a round of drinks.

He had taken his time to plan his revenge, patience after all is one of his best traits, and the first part had gone off without a hitch.

Taking out Maggie had been slightly regrettable. He had enjoyed working with the beautiful blonde but he was sure she had been part of the ploy to take him down, even if he had never found any proof and he knew Nate still cared very much for his ex-wife.

Revenge would be sweet.

* * *

><p><em>My fault. My fault.<em> The mantra ran through Eliot's mind as he swore under his breath.

It was his job to protect them.

True, Maggie was not technically part of the team and for all intents and purposes, she had nothing to do with them. But this involved Blackpoole. And she had played a crucial role in ensuring the success of The Second David Job. He should have considered the possibility that she would be in danger when Sterling delivered that damn file.

He would not make the same mistake again.

"Tara." Two pairs of eyes turned to him, confused.

"Kadjic might go after her. I'm going to call her now. Give her a heads up."

Parker watched Eliot walked to the kitchenette to make the call.

_My fault. My fault._ It was the only thought in her head as her tears continued to flow. Nate had left the team in her hands so he and Sophie could retire, have a shot at a normal life.

Instead, she had failed to consider all the possible scenarios that the reappearance of Ian Blackpoole brought.

And now Maggie's gone. _How am I going to tell Nate?_

Hardison felt numb.

_My fault. My fault. _Any slight relief he had felt when Parker and Eliot had finally got Nate to the hospital were gone the instant he saw the coroner appearing with the body bag.

That image, it will haunt him forever. He had failed to keep track of Blackpoole and Kadjic. Two of their previous marks, previously unrelated suddenly making contact? It should have set off all kinds of warning bells.

But he had missed it. And it had blown up in their faces.

Maggie dead. Nate maybe dead. All of them in danger.

An unfamiliar voice came over Sophie's coms.

"_Family of Sam White?"_

"Guys? The doctor is out with news of Nate."

* * *

><p>"Family of Sam White?"<p>

"Yes, I'm his wife Lara."

"I'm Dr Kelly. Your husband is out of surgery." The doctor looked sympathetically at the woman sitting alone in the waiting room, a child asleep on her lap. She had seen her share of distraught and worried family members in the decade she had been an ER surgeon at the hospital but this woman looked like she's been through hell.

_She looks liked she hasn't slept in days_. Dr Kelly thought to herself before continuing. "He was brought in with massive internal bleeding and damages to his stomach, pancreas and a punctured lung. He also had a couple of broken ribs and fluid in his brain. His heart stopped at one point but we managed to revive him. We've managed to repair most of the damage and we've put him under an induced coma for now to help with the healing process. Your husband is a very lucky man; he might not have made it if he was brought in a couple of hours later."

"Can I see him?"

"They're bringing him into the ICU now but I'm afraid you can't go in now. You may watch him through the window. I suggest you return home and try to get some rest. You may come by to see him during visiting hours tomorrow but children under 12 are not allowed to enter. The nurse here will show you where."

"Thank you doctor."

Dr Kelly acknowledged the woman with a nod and left.

.

Sophie gently shifted her daughter from her lap and lifted her, resting Maria's head against her shoulder and followed the nurse to the ICU ward. She could barely see Nate beneath the many tubes hooking him up to the various machines at his side.

She wanted nothing more at that moment to run into the room and touch him, to feel him and convince herself that he was still alive and real. _I thought I lost you Nate. You must make it through this. I can't lose you._ Sophie thought, willing the words to pass from her brain straight into his.

She was thankful that her daughter remained in deep slumber; this was not a conversation she wants to have with Maria now.

"_Sophie? Are you at the ICU ward?"_ Eliot's voice came through the coms.

"_Yes. Nate. He looks so… so vulnerable."_

"_Sophie, Parker and me are on our way to the hospital now. You need to come back to the hotel with us. It's safer here."_

"_What? No. I'm not leaving him." _Her voice rose slightly in volume, attracting a curious glance from a passing nurse.

"_He won't be alone, Parker will watch over him and Hardison is monitoring the cams. You need to rest and get your strength back."_

"_How will Parker watch him? She can't be seen here, if the police comes back they will question her."_

"_Vents."_ Came Parker's reply.

"_I've been here for hours, and you had no problems with that."_ Sophie replied stubbornly. She can't bear the thought of leaving Nate, the fear of losing him again was too overpowering.

"_That was before I found out they killed Maggie. They killed her Soph. This changes things. At least bring Maria back first." _Eliot said. The comment about Maria swayed Sophie.

Sophie sighed. _"You're right. But I'm coming back once I've settled Maria."_ Eliot knew better than to try and contradict her. That can wait until they are all in the hotel room.

Eliot gave Sophie the address and room number of the hotel room, he assured her that he would be following close behind.

.

Entering the hotel room, Sophie was greeted with a brief hug by the hacker, relief evident on his face. Sophie gave him a small smile and made her way to the adjacent bedroom to settle Maria in. She heard Eliot enter as she put Maria onto the bed and tucked the blanket around her.

She spotted the bag they had packed from her house sitting in the corner of the room and pulled out a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom.

She let the hot water cascade down, the heat slowly turning her skin red. She relished the pain, the burning feeling, wanting the heat to burn away the pain and anxiety.

Eventually, even the hot water ceased to hurt. Sophie turned off the shower and stepped out. The exhaustion from the last couple of days started to seep in, every muscle in her body seem to have given up at once. She barely made it to the bed, snuggling next to Maria.

_Maybe just a short nap_, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes.

.

When she opened her eyes, she could see a small silver of sunlight shining in through the gap of the blackout curtains.

She was alone on the bed.

Panic seized her heart as she bolted up and frantically looked around for any sign of her daughter or signs of struggle.

A familiar giggle floated in from outside the closed door and Sophie felt her body relaxed. She opened the bedroom door and was greeted with the sight of Maria and Parker decorating the hacker, currently sleeping on the pull out couch, with toothpaste and whipped cream.

"And what exactly are the both of you doing?" Sophie asked trying to hide the amusement in her voice.

Both girls froze and turned around, identical guilty looks on their faces. Parker recovered first.

"She started it."

"Parker, she's three." Turning to her daughter she said, "Come on darling, we have to get you cleaned up." Taking Maria's hand, she walked towards the bathroom. "And I expect Hardison to be undecorated by the time we are done young lady."

.

All traces of whipped cream and toothpaste were gone from Hardison when mother and daughter emerged from the bathroom. Parker was sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring intently at the laptop screen. A solemn looking Maria sat down quietly next to Parker.

"Where's Eliot? And why didn't you wake me up this morning?" Sophie questioned.

"Eliot said you needed the rest. He's at the hospital watching Nate." Parker replied, handing an earbud to Sophie.

"It's almost one. I have to go see Nate." Sophie said, placing her earbud in and looked around the living room for her car keys. "Parker? Where are my car keys?"

"Eliot took them. He drove your car back to the house last night." Parker replied, eyes never leaving the screen and producing another set of car keys. "You can use this car instead. It's the black Toyota, parked right next to the lobby."

Sophie took the keys and turned towards the door but was stopped in her tracks by a small voice.

"Mommy? Can I see daddy too?" Maria looked up at Sophie. "Prince Alec says he's sick."

Sophie kneeled down and looked into her daughter's eyes. "Darling, daddy is very very sick and he's in the hospital now. And it's easy for him to make you sick too, so you can't go see him yet ok?"

Tears started to fill up those crystal blue orbs she knew so well.

"But I miss daddy." In her world, it was a perfectly good reason.

"I know sweetheart. I'm sure he misses you too. I promise I'll bring you as soon as possible. But right now I need you to stay here with Parker. Can you do that for me?"

Maria gave a tearful nod and hugged her mother tight; "Give daddy a hug from me please." Maria said before running back to Parker's side.

* * *

><p>Eliot had been at the hospital for the entire morning and so far he had managed to stay under the radar while keeping an eye on Nate's room and the various entry points. He had been into Nate's room after the morning rounds and had looked over the mastermind's charts.<p>

Judging from his injuries, Eliot suspected that Nate had been subjected to a brutal beating. They had beat him to an inch of his life and left him to die. They could have easily killed him, bullet through the head.

Instead, they had let him suffer, wanted him to suffer. Blackpoole is making good on his threat, he already got to Maggie and all of them now have giant targets on their backs.

And hence the dilemma. If it were up to him, they would all be at the safe house by now but Sophie would never agree to leave Nate behind.

Neither would Hardison.

Nor Parker.

Hell, he didn't like the idea himself but if ever there was a time to take a calculated risk, it was now. He was fairly confident that they were in more danger than Nate at the moment, they had every opportunity to kill him but had left him alive. On the other hand, there's no telling how that plan might change if all of them were out of reach.

Ideally, they would take Nate with them but his condition currently is too critical to move him safely. Frustrated, he stood up and went to make another round of the ward.

At the entrance, he spotted Sophie at the nurse's station. Their eyes met for a second but neither acknowledged each other. Sophie made her way into Nate's room while Eliot retreated back into the shadows to resume his watch.

.

Sophie sat down on the chair next to Nate's bed and took his hand in hers. It was cool to her touch, lacking all the warmth she had come to associate with him.

The machines beeped and whirred around her with a gentle rhythm. A constant reminder of the many tethers tying him to life, to her, to them. She tried to recall if she had ever seen him so vulnerable but came up blank.

He had always been the strong and steady presence in her life.

Even when he had been drunk near to the point of oblivion.

Even when she had left him to find herself.

Even when he was in jail.

Never had the idea of losing him forever been so real.

"Nate. If you can hear me, we're all safe and sound. I know how stubborn you can be so I expect nothing less in your desire to come back to us." Sophie could hear her voice breaking slightly and she reached up to brush his hair. "Don't you dare die on me. Don't even think about it. I'll hunt you down if you do. You know that right? No way you are getting away from me that easily."

She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it. "Maria misses her father very much. We all do."

"_Eliot? One of our friends from the warehouse just showed up at the hospital. Facial recognition picked him up."_ Hardison's voice came over the coms, low and urgent.

"_Where is he now? Is he alone? How did he get to the hospital? Sophie, stay with Nate."_

Sophie listened to Eliot's rapid questions, her grip on Nate's hand tightening.

"_Elevator 1, on his way up to your level. I'm trying to trace his steps now but he's alone in the elevator."_

.

Eliot ran the short distance from his position to the lift lobby. Right on cue, the door to elevator 1 opened and a look of recognition crossed the face of the man inside.

Before he could step out, Eliot had shoved him against the wall of the elevator and landed a swift punch across his face. The elevator door closed behind them. The man pulled out a blade and thrust towards Eliot. He twisted to the right just in time, the blade narrowly missing him. His left hand gripped the man's arm and twisted it, causing the man to howl and drop the blade in pain.

A swift knee to the man's torso and he was down.

The ding of the elevator door opening divided Eliot's attention for a second, enough time for the man to pick up the blade and bury it into Eliot's thigh.

A woman screamed but Eliot turned back without so much as a flinch and punched the man in the head, knocking him out.

Eliot glanced up at the LED display, which now showed L. The woman outside stared at Eliot in shock, her scream already attracting the attention of a small crowd.

Out of his peripheral vision, he spotted the approaching guards and quickly pushed his way through the crowd limping as fast as he could towards the side door he had spotted that morning.

"_Hardison. I'm blown and I have a knife in my leg. Am I clear in the parking lot? Going out by the side door now."_

"_Yeah man. You're good. I found the goon's car. He came solo."_

"_Eliot? Get to the car. I'm coming down now to drive you back."_ Sophie said. Eliot wanted to protest but he knew there's no way he could limp all the way back to the hotel without attracting any attention.

"_Parker, get me the hotel's first aid kit. Hardison, find the sewing kit in our room." _Eliot replied instead.

"_I'll get you some painkillers. See you at the car in five minutes."_

.

Fifteen minutes later found them all back at the hotel. Eliot and Parker locked in the bathroom stitching up Eliot's thigh, Sophie putting Maria down for her nap and Hardison hard at work scrubbing the recordings of Eliot's scuffle from the hospital security cams.

Eliot limped out after Parker ten minutes later looking slightly pale but otherwise none the worse for wear. Eliot sat down on the sofa, closing his eyes for a short rest. His eyes popped open as soon as he heard Sophie returned to the living room.

"We have to go to the safe house." He held out his hand in anticipation of Sophie's protests. "Look, I don't know how the goon found us at the hospital but he did. It's only a matter of time before he finds us here. We have to clear out before that."

"They could have been after Nate. They know the alias he was checked in under, it's not that difficult to find him. We can't just leave him behind" Sophie retorted. Eliot sighed. He did not have to look at Parker and Hardison to know that he was fighting a losing battle.

"I have a plan. It's risky and let's hope it will be worth it."

* * *

><p>After another restless night, they were all assembled in the living room, packed and ready to leave.<p>

"Let's go steal a Nate." Parker announced.

* * *

><p>Parker and Hardison grabbed their luggage and left. Sophie knelt down in front of Maria. "Darling, I need you to go with Eliot ok? Mommy has to go get daddy."<p>

"Daddy's coming home?"

"Yes darling. Now I need you to be a good girl for Eliot alright? Do everything he says and you'll get to see daddy soon."

Maria nodded at her mother and turned to give Eliot a big smile. "I'll be good Sir Eli."

Eliot returned her smile. "Well maybe we can stop for ice cream then sweetheart." He gave her a wink and turned to Sophie. "You be careful too. I'll see you soon." Sophie nodded and watched Eliot walked out the door with her daughter.

She walked over to the window and watched them until they drove out of sight. Taking a deep breath, she gave the room one last check, ensuring they left nothing behind and left for the hospital.

.

Dr Kelly was at the nurse's station when Sophie arrived, her face darkening when she saw her.

"Mrs White, I must insist you reconsider your decision."

"I understand your concerns Dr Kelly and I'm grateful for everything you've done but Dr Jacobs at Bellvue Hospital is an old friend and I would feel better if we transfer Sam over."

"I still don't see how he could have agreed to transfer when the patient is still in such critical condition." Dr Kelly replied suspiciously.

Sophie was saved from coming up with a reply by the arrival of Parker and Hardison, disguised as paramedics.

"We're here to transfer a patient by the name Sam White? To Bellvue Hospital I believe." Hardison spoke to the nurse, while Parker handed over the paperwork. The nurse looked over the paperwork and pointed out Nate's room to them.

.

They managed to get Nate onto the ambulance without a hitch and they all breathed a collective sigh of relief as soon as Hardison drove out of the hospital premises. They took a few detours and backtracked quite a bit before setting off towards their real destination.

"_We're here. Where are you guys now?" _Eliot asked.

"_Nearing the place where I hid the van. We'll see you in about 30 minutes." _Hardison replied, turning into a side alley where an unmarked black van was parked. They carefully moved Nate and all the equipment from the ambulance and continued on their way.

Eliot met them at the door when they turned into the garage, crossed arms and grim faced. They moved Nate to the ground level room, already set up with some medical equipment.

A tall, well-toned man was waiting for them, his chestnut coloured hair cropped high and tight.

"This is your doctor friend?" Hardison asked Eliot staring at the stranger. "He looks like a hitter."

"Dr Allen Grey. I met him back in the day." Eliot ignored Hardison's comment and introduced his friend.

"Just call me Allen. I owe Spencer a great debt." The doctor smiled and held out his hand. Eliot heard Hardison muttered _of course you do_ under his breath and shot him a glare.

"I think we should let Allen do his thing. Everybody out." Eliot said after introductions have been made. The team gathered in the living room while Allen examined Nate. They sat in silence but the tension seemed to have dissipated slightly.

They were together, alive and relatively safe for now.

Parker broke the silence first. "Someone is going to have to tell Nate about Maggie."

"I'll do it." Sophie answered immediately. Parker nodded mutely.

"So Parker, what's the plan now?" Eliot asked.

"I'm not sure." She replied softly. "I think we should wait for Nate." Allen came out from the room and their attention turned to him.

"Surprisingly your little trip hasn't made his condition any worse. I've got him settled in and you may go see him one at a time and only for a short while. I might need to bring him to get some scans done in a couple of days but we'll cross that bridge when the time comes." The doctor said to them.

"I'll get Maria." Sophie said, making her way up the stairs as the others made their way towards Nate's room.


	11. Chapter 11: Of Love and Forgiveness

**A/N: Another long chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it and thank you to everyone who has read, review, follow and favourite this story. Your encouragement keeps me going. :) **

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 11: Of Love and Forgiveness_

.

It was the most bizarre cases he had ever come across.

Although that may not be saying much since it was only his third month on the job. Officer Carter found a small measure of comfort in the fact that his mentor looked just as bewildered as he was.

It had been another routine day at work.

He had been assigned to question the wife of Sam White, the man that had been dropped off at the hospital while his mentor tracked down the blonde who had brought him in. The wife, Lara White, had understandably been confused and distraught over the incident and had given no indication of having any idea how her husband had ended up in the hospital.

They had not managed to get a look of the blonde from the security cameras and had to make do with a composite sketch from the descriptions of some of the ER staff. In any case, they had not had any luck tracking down the mysterious blonde so far.

The case took a turn for the weird when Dr Kelly from the hospital had called to report her patient missing.

According to the doctor, the wife had requested for her husband to be transferred immediately to Bellvue Hospital in New York to be under the care of a family friend, a Dr Jacobs. She had called the hospital and voiced her concern to the doctor but had been reassured that it was the best option for the patient.

She had called the hospital again a while ago to checked if Sam White had arrived but was told they had not been informed about any transfer patients. She had requested to speak to Dr Jacbos but was told that the doctor left for his year long sabbatical two months ago, at which point she had called the police.

And that was how Carter and his mentor found themselves at the front door of the Whites' house. His mentor had already rang the doorbell a couple of times but no one was answering the door. Kicking the door in, his mentor drew his gun and entered the house cautiously and Carter followed close behind. After ascertaining that there was nobody in the house, they called CSU to have the house searched thoroughly.

At which point the case delved deeper into the strange territory. They had found no signs of struggle and the house itself appeared immaculate with nothing seemingly out of place.

However, there was a distinct lack of any indication of the identity of the household members. There were no photographs or documents of any kind, not even a child's drawing. No activities had been reported on any of the couple's credit cards and bank accounts. Both their cellphones were switched off and they had yet to find any laptops or personal computers.

The only thing that appeared out of place was a mark on one of the living room walls, which appeared to have been left by someone punching the wall.

Lara's car was found in the garage but Sam's was nowhere to be seen. Carter had promptly put out a BOLO on it.

They spent a good portion of the remaining day interviewing the neighbours and the staff at the couple's pub, The Black Knight. All their stories had been consistent with the one Lara had told Carter two nights ago.

Sam White had been last seen four nights ago and called in sick the next day and Lara had called on behalf of her husband to said he would not be going in to work the following day. That was the last anyone has heard from either of them. Dr Kelly told Carter that Sam was in need of urgent medical attention and they had promptly issued an alert to all the hospitals state wide and were now tracking down the ambulance and the two paramedics that had picked up Sam that morning.

Carter was confident that they would be getting to the bottom of this case sooner rather than later. After all, how could a whole family just vanish without a trace?

* * *

><p><em>He was living in a memory. <em>

_One he thought he had buried years ago, faded but not forgotten. _

_A memory that seemed so far away and so long ago. _

_A family day at the park with his wife and son. They had not been doing anything particularly special and the details were fuzzy. _

_He wasn't sure exactly which park they were at. They were eating sandwiches and drinking lemonade from a flask. Maggie might have packed them. _

_Or they had bought the food on the way there and it could have been orange juice from a bottle. _

_He had been throwing a baseball around with Sam. Or was it a football. There was ice cream involved at one point. _

_Sam had been five. _

_That detail he could recall with clarity. He could see him clearly. _

_The excited look on his face, every curl of his hair, every happy shriek. _

_Maggie had joined in at one point. He could see her clearly too. _

_She had been wearing a yellow sundress, the colour of her hair. He could recall the way the sunlight reflected off her hair, the small smudge of ice cream next to her lips, the crinkle of her eyes as she laughed with her son. _

_He could stay here forever, living this one perfect day for all eternity._

* * *

><p>It was another two days after they had all arrived at the safe house before Nate showed any sign of regaining consciousness.<p>

In the meantime, the team kept themselves busy to keep their minds from dwelling on worst possible scenarios.

Eliot spent the bulk of his time discussing Nate's condition with Allen, the two friends planning the best way to get Nate somewhere Allen could do the various scans that would inevitably be required. He had also resumed his position as the unofficial chef, preparing lunch and dinner for his family.

Parker assigned herself to being Maria's new best friend, spending hours not just playing and reading with her but also discussing everything from Santa Claus to unicorns. When not spending time with Maria, Parker helped Hardison monitor security of the house, occasionally venturing out to sweep the area.

With the need to leave at a moment's notice removed at least for the moment, Hardison had made much better progress on digging out information regarding the Kadjics and Blackpoole. He was also monitoring the progress of LAPD's investigation into Maggie's death as well as Buffalo PD's progress on looking into Nate's disappearance.

Sophie focused her attention on her daughter and husband, spending most of her time in Nate's room alone or with Maria. Through it all, the three year old seemed to be adapting to all the sudden changes relatively well. She had been confused at her father's lack of response but had cheered up a little at Eliot's encouragement to read to her father to help him find his way back to her. Which she was doing at the moment, aided by her mother.

A soothing melody of two voices, one low and soothing, one high and cheery, trying to guide the most important man in their lives back to their world.

* * *

><p><em>They were strolling along the Thames. It was the middle of winter and despite the freezing temperatures, there was no snow. <em>

"_Maybe we should head back to the hotel." Nate said._

"_Why? It's rare to find this place so empty. Don't tell me you're scared of a little cold Nate." Maggie teased. _

_Nate smiled and kissed her on the lips instead. He put his hands in his coat pocket and felt the velvet box. This last minute assignment had thrown a wrench into his plans. They were supposed to be sitting in the little Italian restaurant where they had their first date, not chasing down some grifter and freezing their butts off in London. _

_At least they had been sent on this assignment together. _

_They continued strolling in comfortable silence and Nate made up his mind. He stopped suddenly and Maggie almost tripped in surprise. Her eyes widen as Nate got down on one knee._

"_I know this is not the most romantic proposal but I'm so in love with you. I can't wait to start a life with you. So Maggie Collins, will you marry me?" Maggie was tearing as she said yes and Nate slid the modest diamond ring onto her finger. He stood back up and took Maggie in his arms, lips crushing on hers. _

_Then he heard a whisper. "Prince Alec turned to Princess Parker and said, 'Take this key. I made it so that it can open any door in this castle.' "_

_The voice so sweet and familiar. Puzzled, he looked around, but Sophie was not there. He looked back at Maggie but she was gone, and he was left standing alone clutching at nothing._

* * *

><p>Hardison urgently motioned for Eliot and Parker to join him in the living room where he had set up base.<p>

"We have a situation." The effects of his words were immediate. Eliot visibly tensed and Parker whipped her head around, scanning the room, tazer in hand.

"Not that kind of situation. They've got a BOLO out on Nate and Sophie and distributed photos of all three of them to every hospital state-wide. Even that little fancy clinic you and Allen were eyeing. What are we going to do now?" Eliot rubbed his face, his frustration evident, while Parker frowned and stared blindly at the wall, her mind rotating the problem, trying to find a solution.

"I think we need to call Bonanno." Parker said finally. "I know it's not his jurisdiction and all but he might have some contacts who can help right? He always comes through for us." The guys nodded in silent agreement before Hardison continued.

"The good news is, they don't have any photos of Parker and me and the nurses that saw us weren't able to give a good enough description, so we're cleared for now."

"What about me?" Eliot questioned.

"Just a vague general description, nothing that would give us away." Hardison hesitated for a moment. "Also, I got Maggie's autopsy report. Single gunshot wound to the head…" He stopped, unable to continue.

"Execution style." Eliot added grimly. His words hung in the air, a brutal reminder of the guilt each of them carrying inside. "How's the investigation coming along?"

"It's not going at all. LAPD has nothing so far." Hardison replied shaking his head. Parker stood up and made her way to the kitchen to make the call to Bonanno.

An alarm wailed, joined a heartbeat later by Sophie shouting for Allen. Then, four people were running towards the room at the same time.

* * *

><p><em>Everything hurt now. His insides were on fire and he found it hard to breath, like something was clamping down on his nose and mouth. An invisible anvil was pounding mercilessly at his head. It was loud and noisy. A cacophony of voices, screaming and wailing at him, asking him to choose, telling him to leave, begging him to stay, blaming him and accusing him. <em>

_Then the ground gave way and he was falling and falling…_

* * *

><p>Nate thought he recognised the voice talking to him, low, gruff and gentle.<p>

"Nate. Can you hear me? Nate. It's Eliot."

Nate tried to speak, but his throat felt dry and it came out as a croak. With great effort, he forced his eyes opened and blinked a few times, trying to focus.

"Looks like someone has decided to join us in the world of the living. Welcome back." An unfamiliar voice said.

Eliot held out a glass of water with a straw to Nate and he sipped it gratefully. "You gave us a real scare there Nate. Don't do that again." Seeing a look of confusion cross the older man's face as he glance around, Eliot continued. "We're at a safe house, not a hospital. Everyone's here, safe and sound. I'll go get Sophie." Eliot turned to leave.

Sophie was waiting anxiously outside the room, a teary face Maria clutching to her. Parker was pacing and Hardison was sitting on the floor, staring at ground. They all turned to face Eliot upon hearing him exit the room.

"He's awake. Allen's doing some checks now then you can go in and see him. One at a time." An audible sigh of relief greeted his report. Sophie and Maria went in first, the little family reunion warming everyone's hearts. Parker and Hardison barely had time to say hi before Nate succumbed to exhaustion and drifted back to sleep.

.

The next time he woke, Sophie was sitting next to him, stroking his hand.

"Hello again my darling." Sophie said smiling. Nate returned her smile and looked around, searching for his daughter.

"Maria has gone to bed." Sophie said, "She made me promise to let her visit again tomorrow morning." Nate's smile got wider then faltered.

"It was Blackpoole."

"We know. It's been a crazy couple of days." Sophie replied and frowned. "You saw him?"

Nate nodded. "You called." He said.

"Of course I did. You didn't really expect me to launch a rescue mission with a three year old in tow did you?"

"Tell me everything."

"Nate! You just came back from the brink of death. Why don't you take it easy for-"

"Tell me." Nate interrupted. Sophie sighed, she had not expected to win this argument anyway. So she told him, expertly avoiding any mention of Maggie. When she was done, Nate was staring at the celling in silence. She could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"Do you know where Maggie is?" He asked, so softly that she barely heard him.

"Maggie?" Sophie feigned ignorance, hoping to delay the inevitable for just a moment longer. But Nate, damn him, saw right through her.

"I'm sorry Nate. She's…" Words failed her but it was enough. He understood. Nate turned away from her.

"Nate?" Sophie said tentatively when the silence became too much to bear. Still he said nothing, the silence grew thicker, threatening to suffocate them.

Finally, Sophie stood up and turned to leave, before he could see her cry, never seeing the single tear falling from pain filled eyes that watched her leave.

* * *

><p>"Hardison, what's your status?" Eliot whispered into the coms.<p>

"Clearing out the staff right now. Give me a moment." Came Hardison's reply.

* * *

><p><em>Sophie sat next to Nate, her eyes falling on the small neat pile of toys in the corner.<em>

"_Are you sure you don't want to join Hardison's briefing? You are the most important person of the plan after all." Sophie said, trying to keep her tone light._

"_I'm only supposed to sit or lie down as instructed and be pushed around right? I don't think that requires a briefing."_

"_It'll be like old times. Aren't you always saying how much you miss them?" Sophie coaxed._

"_I'm tired." Nate replied, giving Sophie a hollow smile. "We can talk tomorrow alright?" Sophie nodded, gave him a light kiss on his forehead and left the room. _

_The others turned to Sophie hopefully when she stepped out and were disappointed when she gave a small shake of head. Parker turned back to Hardison._

"_Run it."_

* * *

><p>"Guys, I'm at the ward. Clearing the room now." Parker reported over the coms.<p>

"Nothing suspicious on the feeds or police scanners. You're good to go." Sophie said.

* * *

><p><em>Eliot pulled Sophie aside after Hardison's briefing. <em>

"_Hey, you doing ok?"_

_Sophie gave him a wan smile and shrugged._

"_I don't know Eliot. I really don't know."_

"_Nate still refusing to speak to you?"_

"_Oh he speaks to me. But he doesn't seem to be present in the moment. If he wasn't confined to the bed he'll be getting drunk every night."_

"_He blames himself." Eliot said. Sophie nodded._

"_Of course he does. That's just the way he is."_

"_But that's not his job. It's mine. It's my job to have your backs." Sophie turned to Eliot in surprise._

"_Are you blaming yourself?" She asked. When she got no response she reached out and place a hand over his. "This is not your fault Eliot. There's no way any of us could have expected Blackpoole to sink that low."_

"_Maybe that's true. Doesn't mean I won't keep feeling responsible." Eliot replied. "It's late. We should turn in. Long day tomorrow." And Sophie knew that was the end of the discussion for now._

* * *

><p>"How on earth do you get used to this thing Spencer. I feel like I'm losing my mind hearing three different voices in my head and trying to have a conversation with you." Allen remarked.<p>

"I learn to tune out. Practice makes perfect Allen." Eliot replied and glanced at Nate but the older man remained uncharacteristically silent, sitting on the wheelchair.

Nothing more was said as they wheeled Nate to the MRI room.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hardison?" Parker asked. "Do you think Nate blames me?"<em>

"_Huh? What you talking about girl?"_

"_I'm talking about Maggie." Parker replied absently pulling at a loose thread on the blanket. Hardison closed the laptop on which he had been doing last minute checks on for their little excursion the next day and turned to face Parker._

"_Look at me. This is not your fault, you understand? If it's anyone's fault it's mine." _

_Parker frowned. "Why would it be your fault?"_

"_It's my job to keep track of our marks, make sure they are not doing anything hinky and such and I missed this. I screwed up. This one is on me. You hear me?"_

"_But we've taken down so many bad guys and you said so yourself Blackpoole and Kadjic covered their tracks really well. I should have remembered that Maggie had a link with Blackpoole. I was so anxious about Nate and Sophie that it clouded my judgment."_

_Hardison rubbed his face. "You know what. Maybe it wasn't my fault. Maybe it wasn't your fault either. Or maybe it's both our faults but knowing Nate? He's probably blaming himself and not us." Parker had no answer to that. Instead, she burrowed into the blankets and motioned for Hardison to do the same._

* * *

><p>"We're done with the MRI. Hardison, did you get all the data?"<p>

"20 seconds more. And… Done. Clearing out as we speak."

"I'm already in the car, with all the supplies on Allen's list."

"Allen is driving the van round to pick us up. We'll see you and Hardison at home. TRY to drive like a normal person Parker."

* * *

><p>Everyone arrived home in time for lunch.<p>

Buoyed by this small triumph, lunch proved to be the jolliest affair for all since the start of this whirlwind of events a little over a week ago. A rare sense of normalcy settled around them as they were regaled with animated though slightly incoherent tales from Maria and fell back into the familiar pattern of friendly banter.

If they ignored the absence of their unofficial head of the household, it could almost be like any other family lunch. They were laughing at a particularly funny story Allen was telling about Eliot that they did not notice Nate's slow progress from the room to the living room, until Maria caught sight of him and ran towards him excitedly. Parker was seated nearest to Nate and immediately stood up to offer her seat to her mentor.

Nate sat down gratefully and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Hardison? What do you have on Kadjic and Blackpoole so far?" His question caught everyone off guard and there was a moment of stunned silence.

"Darling, you're in no state to plan a con now. Why don't you take it easy for now." Sophie spoke up as she moved towards him.

"Take it easy? Every minute we are here 'taking it easy' is another minute that Blackpoole and Kadjic are not rotting in prison. So excuse me if I am not 'taking it easy'." Nate burst out angrily. Eliot held up both hands in surrender. "Hey Nate, calm down. Look we know how hard this is for you, but right now, you have to focus on getting better. Then we can figure out a way to take them down."

"Yeah." Parker chimed in. "We'll do this together."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? This man. He killed my son. I should have killed him so he wouldn't have had the chance to kill my wife." As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them but it was too late to take them back.

Allen wisely recognised that his presence would not be appreciated and quietly slipped away while the rest stared at Nate in shocked.

Frightened by this new side of her father, Maria burst into tears and ran out of the room. Sophie took off after her but not before Nate saw the flash of hurt and anger in her eyes. Instinctively, he attempted to chase after them but the sudden action made him dizzy. The last thing he saw was Eliot sprinting to his side as he blacked out.

* * *

><p><em>He was running up a narrow flight of stairs that never seem to end. The door at the end of the stairs loom and he burst through it. Sophie looked up from the painting she was cutting from the frame and grabbed the gun on the mantelpiece. She saw that Nate had raised his gun and in her panic, she squeezed the trigger. Nate stumbled back in surprise before squeezing the trigger. <em>

_Sophie crumpled to the ground and even before Nate had reached her, he could see that she was dead._

* * *

><p>Nate woke to find Parker was sitting cross-legged at the foot of Nate's bed, staring intently at him. For a second, he was confused, and then everything that happened before he blacked out came rushing back to him. Seeing the look of realisation cross his face, Parker unfolded herself from the bed and stood next to it.<p>

"I'm sorry about Maggie, but you have to fix this. You have to be Nathan Ford again. We need you." Without waiting for a reply, Parker left the room leaving Nate alone with his old demons.

.

Nate slowly eased himself off the bed and walked out of the room. Eliot and Allen were on the sofa talking softly. Both of them looked up when they heard the room door open.

"You know Nate, you really shouldn't be walking around in your condition." Allen remarked, walking towards Nate to give him a hand. Nate waved him off, determined to make it to the sofa on his own. After ensuring that Nate was not going to have another fainting spell, Allen left the two men alone and retreated to his room upstairs.

"Where's everybody?" Nate asked.

"Upstairs having a movie night with Maria." Eliot replied. Nate nodded but said nothing.

"You know, that guy who lost it this afternoon is not the same guy sitting next to me now."

"You don't know that."

"I do know. See Nate, I met that guy eight years ago. That guy defeated his demons, made a new life for himself, a family." Nate remained silent.

"You and Sophie have a good thing and you went through hell to get here. Don't throw that away Nate. Talk to her." Having said his piece, Eliot walked off, leaving the older man alone with his thoughts.

.

Sophie slipped quietly into the room and stood at the foot of the bed, not wanting to disturb Nate.

"Sophie? I'm awake."

"Oh. I thought you would be tired after such an erm, eventful day." An awkward silence fell between them.

"Sophie, I-" He could not get the words out.

"It's ok Nate. We can talk tomorrow." Sophie reassured him and made a move to leave.

"No wait. Look Soph, I can't justify saying what I did so I won't. I just… I just need to know if, you know, this is it. For us."

"Excuse me?" Sophie asked sharply, all the anger from earlier returning. "You have so little faith in our relationship, in us, that you think I would walk away just from this?" Her voice was rising now but she didn't care.

"You know, you're not the only one grieving and hurting. You're not the only one who wants to bring those bastards down. We're a family. You, me, Maria, Parker, Hardison and Eliot. If you think what we have is so fragile then you're a bloody fool Nathan Ford."

"You're right." Nate said softly.

"What?"

"You're right. I'm a fool. I'm sorry." The blunt honesty of his statement caught Sophie by surprise and she felt her anger melt away.

"I'm sorry Sophie. I love you, and our family. I should have more faith. I guess I just needed a reminder."

"A reminder? More like an anvil over your head." Sophie said as she moved to his side, her voice softening. "Don't think this means I'm not still mad at you mister."

"I know. How's Maria?"

"Asleep. You owe your daughter an apology as well; she thought you were yelling at her. Eliot was the one who finally calmed her down."

"Eliot?"

"Yeah, he's surprisingly good with children, and Maria has gotten attached to them so fast. Especially Parker."

"Well, Parker is still 90% a child herself." Nate brought Sophie's hand to his lips. "I guess I owe everyone an apology."

Sophie observed the man in front of her, she could see the old cracks appearing and secretly wondered if she, or them, would be able to seal them before he broke again.

"Do you remember you told me once, that you picked me and me alone?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the converse is true as well. I picked you. I made the choice to join this team, and you. The same is true for the others too you know. You didn't pick each other but you chose each other. They made you their leader and you entrusted them with your crusade." For the first time since the start of the ordeal, a genuine smile spread across Nate's face. Sophie leaned forward and their lips meet in a tender kiss.

_Perhaps those cracks can still be fixed._

.

Nate was giving Maria the last of her breakfast the following morning when the rest of the team came into the makeshift hospital room. Sophie carried Maria off Nate's bed and instructed her to play in the corner. Nate looked at the four people standing around his bed, suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of gratitude. He addressed the three younger members first.

"I want to thank you guys for coming. When Sophie called."

Hardison and Parker nodded while Eliot replied. "It's not a big deal. That was always the plan; you would have done the same for us."

"I wished we got here sooner. Got to you and Maggie sooner." Parker whispered.

"Parker, this is not your fault, any of you." Nate said looking each of them in the eyes. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." He looked Sophie in the eye. "Maybe it's not my fault either. Maybe this is just a consequence we have to learn to accept. That no matter how hard we try, we can't save everyone. And no matter how careful we are, there will always be collateral damage and maybe the only thing we can do is accept that, learn from our mistakes and try to move on." He paused.

"Wallowing in guilt is not going to help us. It won't bring Blackpoole and the Kadjics down and it won't bring Maggie back. I should know. I've been there. And I lost sight of that and for that I apologize." He paused again to catch his breath. "I know this is a redundant question but I'm going to ask anyway. Would you be willing to break the law with me again?"

Hardison's reply said it all. "Well hell Nate, what did you think we were all doing here?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: That fake real date in The Lonely Heart's Job will forever remain my favourite N/S scene in the whole series.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Eye of the Storm

**The first part of this chapter took me forever. Writer's block can be such a bitch. I haven't gotten around to replying to reviews for last chapter so here's a shoutout to huttonfan, , Kelly and natasha39. Thanks for the love. :)**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 12: The Eye of the Storm_

.

Eliot found Allen sipping a cup of coffee and reading the newspapers in the living room. He looked up when he heard the hitter approaching.

"Family meeting over? That was faster than I expected." Allen commented.

"Yeah. We don't like to beat around the bush." Eliot replied.

"What, no tearful hugs and proclamations of love?" The doctor teased.

Eliot rolled his eyes. "Shut it Grey. Just go in there and do your thing." This just made Allen laugh as he folded up the newspaper and drain his coffee cup.

"You know Spencer, I'm a little jealous to be honest. You found something great here. That's rare for people like us." Eliot just nodded and turned away before the doctor could see the smile spreading on his face.

.

Sophie was snuggled up with Nate, a comfortable silence enveloping them, when Sophie mumbled something so softly, Nate thought he imagined it at first.

"Did you say something?"

"I was really scared Nate, when I saw you lying motionless on the warehouse floor." She gave an involuntary shudder as she recalled that image. Nate gave her hand a small squeeze as she continued. "I don't think I'm capable of raising Maria to be a normal person on my own."

"What? What are you talking about?" Nate was now utterly confused by the sudden confession.

"Well you know, raise her to be an upstanding and honest citizen. Talk about college choices; find a job et cetera et cetera." Sophie sat up, waving her arms about.

"Sophie, you're a great mother and you will do a great job of teaching Maria right from wrong. Our daughter will turn out just fine." Nate assured her. Sophie gave a small sigh, unconvinced.

Nate moved himself to a sitting position. "You know Soph, normal is what we make of it. Besides, I think there never was much hope that our daughter would lead a conventional life."

"But isn't that why we left in the first place? Why we change our identities, move across the country and leave our family behind?"

"Yeah but we didn't really leave that entire lifestyle behind did we. Not really. I mean we think finding some low life to scam is a great holiday activity. Not to mention the whole set of identity papers we keep as backup." Nate pointed out.

Sophie leaned back on the propped up pillow. "You know, I just really wanted Maria to have what I never had. I want her to worry about job interviews and mortgages and bills, not looking over her shoulders for cops and killers."

She turned to Nate. "Why are you smiling like that, I'm being serious."

"I know. I'm watching you fret over our daughter and wondering how you don't see how great of a mother you already are." Sophie raised an eyebrow.

"Sophie, every parent has doubts. Even if our worries are a little more, unique. We're just muddling in through it like everyone else. We'll be alright." Sophie smiled in reply and leaned in to kiss him.

* * *

><p>"Parker? Are you doing what I think you are doing?" Hardison stood at the door, looking suspiciously at Maria and Parker huddled together on the bed.<p>

"Yeah. I'm teaching her how to pick a lock. She doesn't know anything Hardison, she has to catch up." Parker replied, never looking up.

"Parker, she's three. Do Nate and Sophie know you're doing this? No. You know what, Parker, you are not teaching her that." Hardison stepped into the room and plucked the child off the bed. "You, little munchkin, are coming with me." The lock Maria was holding dropped with a small plunk on the floor and Parker looked up with a frown.

"But why? I didn't think they would mind. It's a useful skill."

"Parker, I love you babe but I really don't want to deal with angry Sophie and angry Nate. So I'll take munchkin here with me and maybe you can go help Eliot in the kitchen." Hardison yelled as he made his way downstairs, toddler in arm.

"Ok Maria, you sit here and be good." Hardison settled the girl down on the sofa next to him. "While I work my magic." He made a sweeping motion with his hand. Hardison had barely typed two words when Maria tugged on his sleeve.

"Prince Alec, what are you doing?"

"Well first, you remember that little conversation we had last night girl? You have to call me Uncle Alec now. And you see, what I'm doing now, is taking all the information I found on the bad guys and feeding it through this nifty program I wrote, which will sort them according to the various types of information… and I'm losing your attention." Hardison threw his hands up as Maria became drawn to the laptops and tablets set up on the coffee table. He managed to pick up the toddler and settle her back on the sofa.

"Uncle Alec, I'm bored." Maria looked up at Hardison with her crystal blue eyes. Hardison thought for a moment and hit on an idea.

"How would you like to make your own little cartoon?" He watched those blue eyes lit up and knew he had hit jackpot.

"Can it have a princess?"

"Of course girl, anything you want. Let me just open the program first and voilà." He said with a flourish. "Now, tell me what hair colour do you want your princess to have."

They were still huddled over the laptop when Sophie came out of Nate's room a while later. She stood unnoticed at the doorway of the living room and watched. Maria had settled comfortable on Hardison's lap, giving amusing directions that included 'make the dress puffy' and 'put lots of glitter on him'.

She would have stood there all afternoon but Eliot had stormed out with an overly excited Parker trailing behind, munching on a chocolate bar, to announce lunch. Eliot had prepared a tray for Nate, as had been the arrangement, but the older man insisted on joining the rest at the dining table, resulting in a loud "discussion" at the kitchen entrance which ended when Nate all but collapsed into the nearest chair when even standing became too much of an effort.

Nevertheless, the team enjoyed a delicious and lively dinner that was three years in the making that night.

* * *

><p>There had been an unspoken agreement among the team that Nate would be point on this particular job, so nobody was surprised when he took the lead and prompted Hardison to start the briefing. The team had gathered in Nate's room after Allen had told him bluntly that his insistence on walking around the house the majority of the day was hindering his recovery. Nate had reluctantly agreed to bed rest, regaining his strength is a high priority, right below taking down Kadjic and Blackpoole.<p>

Uncharacteristically, the briefing went by with nary a remark from anyone. All of them sat in rapt attention as Hardison pieced together the circumstances and events that had led to the unholy alliance and how they were now running weapons through the port of Los Angeles.

"So they are now based in LA?" Hardison nodded in response to Nate's question.

"Do we know when Maggie's funeral is?" Nate asked in a softer voice.

There was a brief moment of tense silence before Hardison cleared his throat. "Erm, actually, Maggie, I mean the body is still in the police morgue. They have been trying to contact the next of kin." Hardison glanced down uncomfortably at his feet before looking back up and bringing up a new screen. "Which is you."

Three pairs of eyes turned simultaneously towards the mastermind, who was staring impassively at the screen that now had a copy of the coroner and police report of Maggie's death and a newspaper article from the LA Times reporting on her death that was accompanied with a picture of her. They were waiting for him to say something Nate knew that. He was reading the reports, cold fury rising up his chest with each line.

When he got to the end, he tuned out the rest of the room and focused on the picture of Maggie. He knew exactly where they had gotten that picture. Nate himself had took that photo of her on what turned out to be their last family vacation, in Hawaii, and it had sat on her dressing table ever since. The pain and guilt so acute when he first heard the news had somewhat subsided, replaced instead by a cold fury. Which was an improvement in his opinion.

Guilt and pain drove him to drink and more than once nearly pushed the team over the edge was what landed him in jail.

Fury, he could use.

"Don't get comfortable here everyone, we're going to LA."

Eliot could see where this was going. "They will be expecting you. It could be a trap."

"Oh I expect nothing less." Nate turned his attention back to his team, his family. "Let them come, this time we will be ready."

* * *

><p>Although they were all anxious to take off to Los Angeles immediately, Allen was firm in his decision to keep Nate, and by extension the rest of them, where he was for at least another week. This became, what everyone agreed years later, the longest week they had to endure.<p>

Being cooped up in a house with five other adults and a fidgety toddler for a week was enough to drive one insane at the best of times. Add on to that an overhyped thief with nowhere to burn off her energy, an extra grumpy hitter, a disgruntled hacker constantly muttering about being the only one working and an underlying tension of waiting for the other shoe to drop turned the house into a powder keg.

Tempers ran short and conversations started in clipped tones, ending more often than not in arguments. Even Maria grew restless and irritable, her temper tantrums increasing in frequency and volume.

A temporary relief was granted three days in when Allen announced another scanning was in order. "Borrowing" another patient's appointment occupied the team long enough for peace to descend upon the house for a short afternoon.

By the end of the week, even Allen was at the end of his line and granted approval for Nate to fly to LA, if only to ensure they did not end up killing each other.

The night before they were due to fly, Eliot found Nate sitting alone in the kitchen, toying with the gun Parker had given Sophie back at the house.

"Do I have to repeat the story I told you the last time I saw you with a gun just before we went after a mark?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"No."

Eliot made no indication of moving from his spot and the two men stared at each other, the gun now on the breakfast bar between them.

"I want to say I am not that person anymore Nate, but we both know that would be a lie." Nate frowned a little and studied the hitter. "You just have to say the word Nate. I'll do it. If only to ensure you won't."

"I'm not going to do it." Nate said firmly, his eyes never leaving Eliot. "Nor will I ask you to." Another beat of silence. "Why are you offering this time?"

"I trust you Nate, but I also know you. There's a part of you that always knew your father would die in fire and blood. That's the kind of man he is, but Maggie? Maggie's a good person; she's a reminder of a part of your life that was good and it's hard for you to reconcile with how she died."

Nate's face was unreadable, but when he spoke his voice was softer. "You would do that. For me."

"I have long accepted that I have blood on my hand. That is my cross to bear and I will do everything in my power for you, all of you, to not have to bear that same burden. So yes, I would do that. For you."

"I was this close to pulling the trigger the last time." Nate confessed. "Until I saw you, all of you, standing there, reminding me that I'm no longer alone. That I have a real shot at a second chance if I just walk away and take it. I have so much more to lose now, you and me both. Eliot, I won't throw away our second chance." Nate pushed himself up from the chair and walked towards the hitter, placing his hand on the latter's shoulder. "We'll get them."

* * *

><p>Nate's conversation with Eliot brought up a lot of old memories for him. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not notice Sophie waiting for him at first.<p>

"What are you thinking about?"

"About Maggie, you know, days of long ago." Sophie nodded with understanding and patted the space on the bed next to her.

"Talk to me darling."

And so he did.

Through the night, Sophie learnt that they had met on Nate's very first assignment with IYS. They had hit it off immediately and it had been Maggie who asked him out first. She heard all about the small Italian restaurant where they had dinner and Nate had known by the end of the dinner that he would marry her. Nate told her about the proposal, how the last minute assignment had messed up his plans but it turned out perfect anyway.

Sophie had thought she would be jealous, listening to Nate talk about Maggie. Instead, it felt like listening to a story from the past, and in some strange way, from her past. Here was the story of the man she had first met. The man who had chased her across the world and had indulged in her little games.

"You know, I never thought I would ever meet another woman who would capture my heart."

They were quiet for a moment, allowing the comfortable silence to wash over them.

Sophie thought he had fallen asleep until he whispered. "I love you very much Sophie."

She was about to reply when he continued, "Maggie and me, it was different. We were young, idealistic. I thought we would be happy forever. Especially after Sam came along. Then everything fell apart." He turned to face her, one hand reaching out to cup her face. "With you, it's different. You fell for the white knight but you were the first to embrace the other side of me. It was how you put me back together and made me the man I am today."

He leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips and press his forehead against hers. "I can't lose you Soph. I can't… I will never be able to come back from that." Sophie tears, burying her face in Nate's side, and sometime between the whispered words of love and small kisses, they both drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Flying arrangements got a tad more complicated when the police decided to start circulating pictures of Nate, Sophie and Maria to the various airports, bus and train stations in the area.<p>

Bonanno had been unable to throw the cops off their scent but had reassured them that they were still baffled over the disappearance of the White family, without any promising leads and thankfully had not connected anything with Parker, Hardison or Eliot so far. They were all booked on the same flight but would be travelling separately to the airport and seated apart.

Sophie was taking Maria, whose dark brown hair had been dyed blond and cut short, and Parker was joining them, posing as Sophie's sister.

Eliot dug out his air marshal badge and Hardison was going solo, although he would be seating directly behind Parker.

Nate and Allen would be posing as business partners travelling for work, the latter had insisted on travelling with Nate, as he was still quite weak from his injuries. Earbuds were distributed and they were soon on their way.

At the airport security, there was a tense moment when a guard scrutinized Nate, disguised only by a wig and a moustache, for a moment longer than necessary, before waving him through.

As the plane took off from Buffalo, Nate whispered quietly over the coms, "Let's go steal our revenge."


	13. Chapter 13: Point of Origin

**A/N: We're almost at the end. If all goes well there should another two chapters after this followed by an epilogue. Thank you again for your support of this story!**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 13: Point of Origin_

.

Blackpoole twirled the amber liquid in his glass. It's been almost two weeks since Nate disappeared from without a trace from the hospital. There was no doubt in his mind that the people responsible for springing Nate from the hospital were the same people who had managed to save him from that warehouse of course. There was always a fifty-fifty chance in Blackpoole's mind that Nate's little team would manage to find the warehouse.

It was much more convenient for him if they did really.

Hospitals are crowded public places and his team will turn up in full force to visit the mastermind. It would be much easier to grab them there. He had not counted on the incompetency of the men Edi had hired locally in Buffalo.

They had managed to let them slip away. Twice.

He had not been completely surprised that it had since been impossible to track them at all. They were definitely holed up in a safe house somewhere while Nate recovers, most likely still in Buffalo. After three days of searching he had called it off.

It was no matter really; he had another ace up his sleeve. Nate was listed as Maggie's next of kin and he was absolutely certain that he would come personally to claim the body and arrange the funeral. That's the kind of man he is. He had not expected it to take this long actually; Nate never struck him as a patient man. In any case, he has men watching the city morgue twenty-four hours a day.

Ian Blackpoole had waited for his revenge for eight long years, a few more days were no matter.

* * *

><p>Unlike Hardison, Eliot and Parker's flight to Buffalo, their flight to Los Angeles was completely full, making conversation over the coms near impossible.<p>

Nate and Allen were seated up at first class, away from the rest of the team, to avoid Maria accidentally blowing their covers if she spotted Nate. Their rendezvous point was to be the safe house and they would be taking different routes in case any of them were being followed.

Eliot was the first to arrive as had been arranged.

The single storeyed house was sparsely furnished with a small kitchen, two bedrooms and bathrooms. It was much smaller than the one in Buffalo but Hardison had not been able to find a bigger one that also satisfied the security requirements. Eliot was nonetheless relieved to find a large pull-out bed in the living room. _At least I'll have something soft to sleep on._ Eliot thought as he moved to do a quick sweep of the place.

He had just finished his sweep when there was a firm knock on the door followed in succession by three quick knocks. A quick peek at the peephole revealed Hardison at the door with two big bags containing all of his equipment. Eliot let the hacker in, the latter whom immediately made a beeline towards the small coffee table and started pulling out his laptop and tablets from one of the bags.

Eliot opened the other and pulled out the small cameras that Hardison designed and got to work placing them around the house. He was halfway through when another knock, followed by three in succession rang out.

Parker, her hands full with luggage and grocery bags, and Sophie, Maria in her arms, were standing outside.

Nate and Allen arrived a short while after and there was temporary chaos in the house as they unpacked and sorted out sleeping arrangements. It was dinnertime when everything was finally settled and everyone sat down for a simple meal prepared by Eliot.

.

Nate was up before the sun the next morning. He carefully got out of bed, not wanting to disturb his wife and daughter, stepped awkwardly over Maria's sleeping form on the air mattress. The stretching movement sending a sharp pain up his torso, causing him to wince. Although he would never admit it to Sophie and certainly not to Eliot, he was starting to wonder if his insistence on going to claim Maggie's body today was a bad idea.

The fainting spells had stopped and standing or walking was no longer an exhausting chore but he was well aware that he was in no shape to even run, let alone defend himself from an attacker. From his last scan, he knew his internal injuries had not fully healed; any new blows would aggravate the wounds and Allen had been clear that he would send Nate to the nearest hospital immediately if that were to happen.

Eliot was alert and focused on the widescreen television that was hooked up to Hardison's laptop when Nate walked into the living room. Without looking up, he pointed towards the kitchen.

"I just made a fresh pot of coffee. I'm making pancakes later if you want to wait, otherwise you can have some of Parker's cereal." Nate made his way towards the kitchen cabinet, fully aware that the hitter was observing his every move. He took one look at the bright and colourful cereal box that no doubt contained more sugar than should be humanly consumed and immediately opted to wait for Eliot's pancakes.

He poured himself a mug of steaming coffee and took a seat next to the hitter.

"So, what's good on tv?"

Eliot raised his eyebrows before replying. "Oh the usual, peaceful road, a few of the native wildlife poking at the trash, things like that."

Nate nodded with a smile. The two men sat silently in the dark room, illuminated only by the tv, showing footage of the empty street outside.

"I suppose it's pointless to try and talk you into letting me claim the body on your behalf." Eliot said finally.

"It's the least I can do for her. I am the closest person to family she has left. I think that's why she never removed me as her emergency contact, even when I told her Sophie and I was 'moving away'."

"I still think it's a bad idea."

"I know, but I have to do this."

Parker and Hardison chose this moment to appear, bleary eyed, in the living and Eliot took this as a sign to move to the kitchen and start breakfast.

.

They pulled into the parking lot of the city morgue. Throughout the entire drive to their destination, Eliot had been tense and silent, gripping just a little too hard at the steering wheel. Nate wisely remained silent, staring out the window at the place he once called home.

Eliot parked the car and turned off the engine but did not leave the car immediately. He scanned the surrounding area, looking for any signs of suspicious behaviour.

"_Nothing suspicious on my end." _Hardison reported over the coms.

"_Keep your eyes open, we're going in."_ Eliot replied as he gave the parking lot a final swoop before opening the car door and motioning for Nate to do the same. The pair made their way into the main building and presented themselves at the front counter. An identity check, an elevator ride and another identity check later, Nate was staring down at Maggie's body on the autopsy table. He was not fully prepared for the blow he felt in his gut.

The woman who was once the centre of his world now lying on a cold, steel table, and despite everything he had said, a small part of him was blaming himself. He gave a muted nod to the coroner, and felt tears springing to his eyes as he turned to walk out of the room, where Eliot was waiting.

Wordlessly, they both make their way back to the car, Hardison's voice in the background making funeral arrangements. They got into the car and Eliot started the engine but did not move out. He turned to the older man.

"You ok Nate? Need a moment before we leave?"

Nate shook his head. "I just want to get back." Eliot nodded and stepped on the accelerator. They had just turned onto the main street when there was a sound of glass breaking and a hole appeared in the back windshield.

"Get down." Eliot yelled as he floored the accelerator, trying to keep his eye on the road while crouching. Another clank and yet another hole appeared.

"_Nate! Eliot! One of you talk to me. What's going on?"_

"_Someone's shooting at us. A little help here Hardison. Can you see who or where the shooters are?"_ Came Nate's urgent reply.

"_Working on it. I'm getting traffic cam now. Just… just hang on a sec."_

"_Hardison, I can barely see where I'm going. Guide me."_ Eliot yelled as he swerved to avoid another vehicle.

The impact threw Nate against the door and he bit back a wince. Eliot straightened slightly to get a better look at the traffic and narrowly got shot by a bullet whizzing in from his left.

"_Hardison!"_

"_I got them bro, I got them. Black SUV to your left."_

"_Do you see any roads up front I can shake them."_

"_Traffic junction up front. I've hacked into the traffic lights control; I'll stall them after you pass through. Go!" _Eliot took a quick glance and floored the accelerator again. He could hear the squeal of brakes and the crunch of metal against metal behind as they sped away.

"_You're clear. They swerved into a lamppost." _Hardison told them. Eliot and Nate straightened themselves, turned into a quiet side road and got out of the car. Both men did not say a word to each other until they were a good distance away.

"Let's go into the café across the road." Nate indicated with a tilt of his head. Eliot gave a slight nod and followed. They took a table at the back of the small café, Eliot sat with his back to the wall and eyes to the door and Nate sat with his eyes to the kitchen door.

"We can't go back to the safe house." Nate said in a low voice after the waitress brought them their coffees, more for the benefit of those listening at the other end of his coms than his companion. A number of outraged voices erupted immediately overlapping each other such that exact words could not be deciphered but the meaning was clear.

Eliot gave a grunt. _"One at a time!" _He hissed under his breath.

"_Excuse me? What do you mean you can't come back here? It's a safe house. That means you will be safe here."_ Hardison finally managed to raise his voice above the others.

"_We have no way of being sure that there were no tracking devices on the car or if there were any other people following us."_ Eliot replied.

"_You already got rid of the car, and nobody followed you to the café right?"_

"_Can't take the risk."_ Nate this time.

"_If you are not coming back here, where will you go?"_

"_The Ritz."_ Nate replied.

"_What?"_ Hardison and Eliot said at the same time.

"_Ian would be expecting us to lay low. He'll stake out the motels and low end hotels in the area so we do the exact opposite." _Nate continued, ignoring them both.

"_And what about the funeral Nate." _Hardison asked, a slight tone of resignation in his voice.

"_Time to call in a favour."_ Nate paused for a moment._ "Eliot is not going to like it too much though."_

Eliot grimaced. _"I've learnt to tolerate him."_

"_Hardison, you know what to do. We'll check in once we're at the hotel."_ Nate informed Hardison as they both stood, paid for their drinks and left.

.

The pair made a detour to pick up some new outfits before making their way to the Ritz. Hardison had worked his magic and booked Nate and Eliot into a room under an alias, which showed they had already been staying there for two days and would be there for another three days. Eliot lifted a key card and charmed the front desk girl into reprogramming it for his room.

As soon as Eliot informed the rest that they had reached their room safely, Sophie started yelling causing him to immediately turn off his coms and shot a sympathetic look at Nate. He made his way into the bathroom to take a shower, giving Nate some privacy as he tried to calm his angry wife.

The storm appeared to have passed when Eliot stepped back out into the small room. Nate was sitting on the bed channel surfing. He looked up when Eliot entered and motioned for him to put his ear bud. Allen gave him some instructions over the coms before they both signed off, with a promise to check in after dinner. After ensuring that Nate's com was also off, Eliot turned to ask.

"So what's your plan for tomorrow?"

"Hardison already contacted Sterling. Interpol will sweep the surrounding area and there will be a team there with us."

"That's it? You're putting all your faith in Interpol?" Eliot asked, incredulous.

Nate just gave him one of his infuriating smiles and returned his attention to the television set.

* * *

><p>"Hello Nate. Long time." Sterling greeted Nate as Eliot and him walked into the cathedral. Eliot spotted Father Paul at near the confession booth, giving a short wave when the latter spotted them.<p>

"Sterling." Nate replied.

"Sorry about Maggie." Nate nodded stiffly at that and was saved from further conversation by the arrival of the rest of the team.

"Daddy daddy." Maria shouted as she made a beeline for the mastermind, Sophie close behind. Sensing Sterling staring at them, Nate guided his daughter towards him and introduced them.

"Sweetheart, this is an old… friend, of daddy's. His name is James. Say hi." Maria obliged happily, flashing a charming smile at him. "Pleased to meet you." Sophie heard a snort behind her, and she could almost swear it was Parker.

"Nice to meet you to Maria." Sterling said, holding out his right hand for a handshake. At this point, more people were starting to stream into the church and the group made their way inside.

The team occupied the front pew, with undercover agents behind and in the next pew. Eliot spotted a significant number of undercover agents mixed in with the crowd and surreptitiously guarding the various entry points. He could find no fault with the security detail Sterling had put in place but he would be damn if he admitted as much, choosing instead to say nothing.

Father Paul started the service and Nate looked around at the attendees. He recognised quite a lot of people, old friends and some of his ex colleagues from IYS. He returned his attention to Father Paul just as he asked Nate to come up to say a few words. He felt Sophie gave his hand a tiny squeeze before he stood up and made his way to the front.

He took a deep breath and began "Maggie is… was, a good person. The very best. We had a good life together. Happy. When Sam died." He paused. "When Sam died, I was a mess. She tried her best to help me but I pushed her away until she finally walked away for good. I have since put my life back together, with a lot of help, and a wife and daughter."

He looked towards the people sitting in the front pew. "Maggie was very happy for me and I'm grateful that we had the chance to make our peace. In fact, I'm quite sure she told Sophie more than a few secrets to use against me." This drew a wave of polite laughter from the crowd. "I just wished she had another shot at happiness like I did. She was taken from us way too soon but at least she's with Sam now. I love you Maggie, give Sam a hug and kiss from me."

.

"Nathan, James. Such a terrible tragedy with Maggie." Ian Blackpoole said. Eliot was all too ready to beat the pulp out of him but Nate gripped his arm and held him back.

"You have some nerve showing up here Ian. Not afraid that I would arrest you?" Sterling asked.

"What for? I have done nothing wrong as my lawyer here will attest to." Blackpoole replied, pointing to the stone faced man next to him. "Good day gentlemen, and sorry about your loss Nathan." With that, he walked away.

Nate's grip on Eliot did not loosen until Blackpoole was well out of sight.

Wordlessly, the group started walking towards their car at the far end of the parking lot when a loud boom was heard and all hell broke loose.


	14. Chapter 14: Commencement

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

.

_Chapter 14: Commencement_

.

The team's car was engulfed in flames. The loud boom had startled everyone nearby and sent Sterling running towards the source, yelling into his coms all the way. A second boom went off in the opposite direction, sending everyone into full-blown panic and people started running everywhere.

Blackpoole looked around for the team but was unable to locate them amidst the chaos. He brisk walked towards his car, pulling out his phone as he went and angrily pressed speed dial 1.

"What the hell Edi. What were you thinking? Blowing up their car? That wasn't part of the plan."

"What do you mean? We didn't plant any bombs. My boys are waiting for them down the street as we agreed."

"Well who the hell planted the bombs then." The answer came to him as soon as the question left his lips. He muttered a curse, ended the call and threw his phone on the ground in frustration.

* * *

><p>Moving surprisingly fast for an injured man, Nate walked purposefully with Hardison towards the partially hidden alleyway next to the church, Parker and Sophie, toddler in arm, close behind and Eliot bringing up the rear. Despite pre-emptively giving ear buds to Maria, the three year old had understandably still been terrified by the bombs and ensuing panic.<p>

Sophie tried to whisper words of comfort to her daughter to no avail, almost getting choked when Maria tightened her grip around her neck. A black van, proclaiming to belong to a nearby catering company, was waiting for them at the alleyway.

"About time, those explosions must have been heard by everyone in a three block radius." Allen remarked as he got out of the driver seat and pulled open the back door.

"That was the point." Nate replied with a grin as he climbed in. The wails of police siren could be heard as they pulled out of the alleyway. They had calculated the police response time perfectly and managed to drive away unhindered away from the area.

They made a couple of detours as a precaution, in case there were any of Kadjic's men still hanging around despite the police presence. They returned the van to the small catering company, whose owners had conveniently won a trip to Hawaii, and got into the SUV they had parked there.

"You're sure there were no casualties?" Nate asked the hacker once they were safely on their way back to the safe house.

"I'm hurt man, hurt. When have I ever done a slipshod job? You know what's my middle name? It's Perfect…" Nate held up a hand in surrender, choosing to turn his attention to his daughter.

"Kid's definitely going to need therapy." Hardison muttered to himself as he resumed typing on his laptop. No one was more relieved than Eliot when they finally pulled into the driveway of their safe house. Maria had finally calmed down and fallen asleep on the journey back and Sophie carried her into the bedroom while the rest gathered around the television in the living room.

Nate was standing in front of the TV when Sophie reappeared. He looked around at his team, no, his family, turned to Hardison and said, "Run it."

* * *

><p>Tara and Quinn walked into the dimly lit bar and looked around. They spotted him sitting in the far left corner, nursing a beer. Tara sat down across from him without waiting for an invitation while Quinn went up to the bar counter to order them drinks.<p>

"Well well well. Look what the cat dragged in." Edi Kadjic said calmly.

"That's no way to greet an old friend." Tara replied with a dazzling smile as Quinn joined them, two bottles of beer in his hand.

"Friends don't sell out friends to the feds Tara."

Tara laughed. "Please. Did you really think I would be sitting here if that had been me? I would be living it up on the government's dime under witness protection." She nonchalantly took a sip of her beer. Edi cast a suspicious eye at Quinn as if noticing his presence for the first time before turning his attention back to Tara.

"Doesn't change the fact that you were the one who set up that meeting."

Tara rolled her eyes. "Come on Edi, it was just business. That whole incident was bad for me too. Had to lay low in Europe for a few years. "

Edi remained suspicious. He nodded towards Quinn. "And who is this charming gentlemen. I was under the impression that you always worked alone."

"Insurance policy. Can't be too careful after that last incident."

"Alright, say I buy your story. What do you want?"

"I have buyers, you have goods." Tara replied, taking another swig of beer.

"It's still been a very long time hasn't it?"

Unfazed, Tara shrugged. "I told you. I was lying low in Europe for a few years and I much prefer working in the east coast." Edi remained silent, sipping his drink in silently and staring at the pair in front of him. The minutes stretched on as Tara and Quinn watched Edi pondered over their conversation. He came to a decision.

"Fine. Let's talk business."

* * *

><p>Three hours later, Tara and Quinn were in a room at the Ritz. Quinn opened the desk drawer and felt around the topside until his fingers brushed across the small bulge near the back. He pulled out the small packet, ripped it open and tossed one of the earbud to Tara. She put it in immediately.<p>

"_We've set up the meeting. It appears Interpol did a good job turning up the heat on Kadjic's regulars."_

"_Yeah well, at the end of the day, Sterling's probably getting another promotion so he's only more than happy to help" _Nate replied from the other end of town.

"_In any case, everything on our end is in order. We'll see you in a few days."_

"_Hey, you guys didn't leave any unexpected gifts for us did you?"_ Quinn chimed in as he completed his short tour of the room.

"_We were there one night Quinn, stop being an ass."_ Eliot replied as Quinn let out a laugh.

* * *

><p>The sun dawned on another day. In a house somewhere in Los Angeles, a man stood at the doorway holding the hand of a toddler and watched the four people standing in front of him.<p>

"Be safe." Was all the man said as the four turned to leave. He remained standing at the threshold until they were well out of sight and retreated back to the living room. He settled the child next to him and slipped back into the role of the mastermind.

* * *

><p>A nondescript van pulled into the parking lot of a building in downtown Los Angeles. The place was almost full but Eliot found a spot in a far corner and parked the van, killing the engine. He turned to the back where Parker was seated, doing a last minute check on her gear.<p>

"I don't like the idea of you going in alone." Eliot grumbled as Parker moved to open the door.

"I have my tazer." The thief grinned. "I've done this like, a million times Eliot, and I know you guys will have my back no matter what." She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "You have to get moving if you want to be done on time." And with that, she slipped out of the van and was gone from sight in a flash.

* * *

><p>"<em>Nate, I'm here."<em>

"_Do your thing Sophie."_

* * *

><p>Parker picked the lock to the elevator shaft with ease and slipped in unobserved. One particular elevator had conveniently malfunctioned today, allowing her to safely climb up the cable. With a grin, she pulled on her black leather gloves and reported.<p>

"_I'm here."_

* * *

><p>Across town, Hardison and Eliot had arrived at their destination. The warehouse was empty, as they had hoped. Eliot glanced at the dashboard clock. "We have thirty minutes." Hardison nodded as he gathered up the equipment they needed. Eliot took one quick walk around the perimeter and satisfied that there were not immediate threats, took a bag of equipment from him and got to work. Twenty nine minutes later, they were back in the van.<p>

"_We're done at the warehouse. On our way back to Parker now."_ Eliot said into the coms.

"_Copy that."_ Nate replied.

* * *

><p>"<em>Nate, I'm all clear here. On my way back to the house now."<em>

"_Good job Soph, I'll see you soon."_

* * *

><p>Parker had reached the target level. The malfunctioning elevator car was coincidentally located just below the door, providing a foothold for her.<p>

"_I'm at the door. Am I clear Nate?"_ She asked over the coms. Nate took a quick but careful look at the camera footages before replying.

"_You're good." _Nate confirmed. Parker stood on top of the elevator car and pulled off her greasy gloves, pants and top and stuffed them into her small backpack, pulling out a fresh set and put them on. She forced open the elevator door and stepped out with a practiced grace.

Soundlessly, she made her way to the server room. She plugged a small black device Hardison had given her into the keypad lock and grinned when she heard a soft beep. After a final glance to check for guards, she slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.

Repeating Hardison's instructions to herself softly, she found the terminal she was looking for, pulled the monitor and keyboard towards herself and plugged in the thumb drive. A series of pings sounded and a number of windows pop up.

"_The sound of success. I'm in."_

* * *

><p>Tara's phone rang, causing Quinn to cast a suspicious glance at it. Tara put it on speaker and answered.<p>

"Yeah."

"A slight change in plans. I would like you to be present at the meeting later."

Tara laughed. "That's not how I do business Edi. I find you buyers and you wire me my cut. I never attend meetings."

"Well see, the problem is I don't trust you. Be there in thirty minutes or the deal is off. You can have fun explaining to the Russians why you sent them to an empty warehouse." And with that the line went dead. Quinn cursed loudly.

"_You will have to go to the meeting."_ Nate's voice, solemn over the coms.

"_Nate-"_ Eliot started to protest.

"_He's right. When I do a job, I make sure it's done all the way. We're going." _Quinn said firmly as Tara nodded.

"No time to waste then. Shall we?" Quinn asked as he held the door open. Tara grinned at him and stepped out.

* * *

><p>The van was back at the same parking space at the far end of the lot. Hardison was hunched over his laptop, coordinating with Parker who was still in the server room. Eliot remained in the driver's seat, his eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. Parker gave a whoop of joy through the coms and Eliot allowed himself a small smile.<p>

* * *

><p>Tara and Quinn arrived at the warehouse just as the Russians pulled up. If they were surprised at the appearance of Tara, they did not show it. The pair walked into the warehouse ahead of the Russians and approached Edi.<p>

"Well, here I am. Satisfied?" Edi gave a small nod as two of his men stepped forward and gave Tara and Quinn a pat down. Satisfied that they are not armed, Edi finally replied.

"For now." He walked pass them towards the buyers. Tara and Quinn stood at the side, with two of Edi's men staring at them, as they watched the trade go down. After the Russians left, Tara made a move to leave but the two men refused to let her pass. Edi walked back to them.

"Thanks for the business."

"Now we've established that this is a purely business transection, would you let us leave? I have other business to attend to."

"No."

"What?" Tara could feel Quinn gripping her wrist. "If this is how you do business now, rest assure you would not be seeing me anymore in the future."

"Oh I know I won't be seeing you in the future. Kill them." Before Tara could react, she was being pulled aside as gunfire sounded around them.

* * *

><p>"Nate? I'm back." Sophie called out as she entered the house. Maria ran to greet her mother, giving her a tight hug.<p>

"Hi sweetheart, where's daddy?"

"Daddy's working." She replied, pouting slightly. Sophie lifted her up and walked towards the living room where Nate was staring at the television, his face a picture of intense concentration. He looked up when his wife sat down next to him and smiled.

"Do you mind taking over here a moment? I need a toilet break."

"Sure." Sophie settled in, her daughter on her lap and turned on her coms again. The bantering of Hardison and Parker filtered into her ears. A screech interrupted them, followed by the sound of gunfire. Sophie felt her heart seized. A quick glance at the television screen revealed the shots were not directed at the trio at the office.

"_Tara? What's happening?"_

"_Someone decided he would still be blaming me for what happened to Tony."_

"Nate! Nate!" Sophie yelled out as gunshots and voices alike mashed into a stream of panic flowing straight through her. Nate did not respond. She ran to the bathroom and pounded on the door.

"Nate! Something's wrong." The door opened, revealing a very confused Allen.

"Why did you think Nate was in here?" A moment of understanding passed between them as both ran towards the door and sure enough, the car Sophie had used this morning was gone.

"_Damnit. Nate's gone." _She yelled into her coms in frustration.

* * *

><p>"<em>What do you mean Nate's gone. Where did he go?"<em> Eliot snapped. He really didn't have the time to go hunting for Nate now, their priority now is to get to the warehouse and extract Tara and Quinn.

"_Parker! You have to get out now."_

"_Ok. I'm done anyway. Just got-"_ The rest of her words were drowned out by the screech of a wailing alarm.

"_Parker? Parker!" _Hardison yelled frantically when the alarm cut off abruptly, leaving only silence in its wake. Eliot flung open the driver door, ready to go rescue Parker.

However, in the few minutes he was distracted by the gunshots and alarm, a group of heavily armed guards had moved in and they were now surrounded, one of them threw open the backdoor and dragged the hacker out. Eliot knew he could take down those guys but not in the split second it would take for the guard to pull the trigger on the gun now against Hardison's brain.

Glaring at the guards, he held his hands up in surrender.

* * *

><p>"<em>Eliot? Hardison?"<em> Parker screamed, trying to make herself heard above the blare of the alarm. She was standing flat against the wall next to the door, tazer in hand.

Nobody responded.

In fact, her coms was quiet.

Too quiet.

The door burst opened and two guards rushed in guns raised. Parker did not hesitate, raising her arm and tazing both before running out the door. She did not expect the other two guards waiting for her outside. One of them swung a fist at her, connecting with her jaw, throwing her back, straight into the arms of the second one who promptly slapped on a pair of cuffs.

"Thanks for the souvenir." He said, waving her tazer at her as his companion pulled her along.

* * *

><p>"I take it we're on our own now." Quinn remarked amidst the gunshots. Tara rolled her eyes.<p>

"Let's worry about staying alive first."

"Ten."

"What?"

"There are ten of them. Two very near us on the left. We should take those two out first." Tara peeked out from behind the crates they were hiding and spotted the gunmen Quinn was referring to. She nodded to him and they both inched towards the men slowly, their backs against the wall.

One of them had his back towards Tara and she seized the opportunity, pulling his hair and slamming his head against the wall. His companion whipped around but was no match for Quinn who took him out with one swift punch to the head.

"Eight more." Quinn yelled as both of them ran for cover at the next aisle of crates as bullets whizzed by them. They took a moment to catch their breath before running towards another guard. Quinn grabbed him from the back, wrapping his arm around the guard's neck, snapping it in one smooth movement.

They were about to go after another two when there was a commotion at the entrance of the warehouse. A huge group of men in tactical gear came rushing in, announcing they're from Interpol. They rounded up the remaining gunmen in no time and found Tara and Quinn crouched down behind the crates.

The agent who found them glanced down at a piece of paper in his hand then back at them and indicated that they should get on their feet.

"You're both under arrest." He nodded to the other two agents who had materialized out of nowhere and slapped cuffs on both of them.

"Sterling." They muttered under their breaths as the agents took them to a waiting car outside.

* * *

><p>Parker knew where the guards were taking her before they reached their destination. She had after all, spent a good part of the past week observing their mark walk up and down this corridor. They led her into the office, but did not join her, instead, closing the door behind her. Blackpoole swivelled his chair around to greet his guest.<p>

"Welcome Parker." He said with an insincere smile. Parker did not reply, glaring at him.

"No need to be rude. Coffee?" He gestured a mug towards Parker. When he received no reply, he simply shrugged and poured for himself.

"So, how do you want this to go down? I'm flexible about such things, we could-" He stopped abruptly, frowning. Parker heard it too, two soft thuds from just outside the door. A grin spread over her face as she turned to face the opening door, expecting to see Eliot and Hardison running through. Instead, Nate strolled in and calmly greeted.

"Hello Ian. This ends now."


	15. Chapter 15: The Return of the Black King

**A/N: It took me a while to gather up all the loose ends and tied them all into a neat little bow. There will be one more chapter after this, an epilogue. It's already been written, I just need to make a few edits and will post in a couple of days.**

**Hope all my American readers had a great Thanksgiving.**

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

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_Chapter 15: The Return of the Black King_

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Edi Kadjic walked briskly out of the warehouse, his bodyguard locking the door behind them as gunfire rang out on the other side.

Whether the woman had really been sincere in doing business or not was not important to him. He had taken a risk showing up today, but it had paid off handsomely. The goods had been taken off his hands and he had managed to rid himself of the woman for good.

To top it all off, there would be no need to pay the middleman fee; after all, dead people don't need money. Blackpoole assured him that he was taking care of the rest of them at this very moment.

_Today is a very good day_, Edi Kadjic thought to himself as his car drove off. He would be able to tell his brother that they had their revenge at last.

None them car noticed a sleek black car, discreetly following them on their journey back home.

* * *

><p>"<em>Bloody hell Nate. I'm going to kill you."<em>

Nate ignored Sophie's threat, a continuation of the argument that had started as soon as he had turned on his coms on his way to Blackpoole's office building. He made his way into the building, swiping an access card as he passed an unsuspecting executive.

"_Eliot and Hardison are in Blackpoole's custody. Most likely Parker as well and her coms is no longer working. I'm going to get them out. You trust me don't you?"_

The silence on the other end stretched on and Nate thought whatever it was that had caused Parker's coms to abruptly go out had affected his too.

"_You had planned on confronting him all along didn't you?" _Sophie finally replied, a tone of resignation in her voice.

"_This started with me and it will end with me. Sophie, I promised you a lifetime. I am not even near to being done yet."_

Sophie wasn't sure if she wanted to yell at his stubborness or be touched by his words. She settled for hugging her daughter closer and said instead.

"_Bring them all back safe."_ The words gave Nate extra determination as he stepped into the elevator.

* * *

><p>The handcuffs on their prisoners had given the guards a false sense of security, Eliot observed as Hardison and him were being led into the service elevators.<p>

Their posture was more relaxed, their weapons already holstered. Hardison's laptop was supposed to have come with them but the guard who found it had taken one look at the screen, realized Hardison had initiated the wipe disk program and had decided it was no longer worth anything.

Only four of the guards entered the elevator with them.

As the door closed, Eliot exchanged a look with Hardison.

* * *

><p>Tara and Quinn sat in separate interrogation rooms. Their ear buds had been taken when they were searched upon reaching the Interpol office so communication is out of the question. Not that they were feeling particularly anxious about their own situation at the moment.<p>

Quinn was annoyed at the possibility of having to break out of custody again while Tara was distracted by the momentary panic she had heard on the other end of the coms before her earbud had been taken away.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had grown to care for the team over the years. Such attachment was dangerous in their field of work, and it would seem that the cuffs currently on her wrists were an excellent reminder of that. Deep down, she knew she should be coming up with an exit strategy but a larger part of her was convinced the team would come through for her.

For a fleeting moment, she wondered how Quinn was doing and if he had managed to break out already. _Good grief, if I get thrown in jail forever it's because those people turned me into a softy._ Tara thought to herself.

The opening door, signalling the entry of the one Interpol agent she hated with a vengeance, interrupted her thoughts.

"Tara Cole. Been a long time." Sterling greeted. Tara rolled her eyes but said nothing. Sterling threw a thick file on the table and started flipping through it.

"Where should I begin. Fraud, art theft. Wanted in ten different countries in Europe alone and this is only the five pages. Let's see what's on page six shall we?" Tara never did found out what was written on page six at beyond because an urgent knock sounded on the door at that moment, followed by the entry of another stone faced agent.

"Sir, you need to come now. We have a problem." As Sterling left the room, a smile appeared on Tara's face.

* * *

><p>"Nathan. How nice to see you again so soon." Blackpoole greeted in response. "You're just in time. I was about to give your associate here a choice over how she dies. Quick and easy or slow and painful."<p>

"Oh neither I'm afraid. Parker will not die today; you are going to let her go. Now." Nate replied firmly.

Blackpoole gave a loud hollow laugh. "Oh I am? Tell me, how are you going to make me let your little friend here leave?"

"Your guards outside are out for the count and don't bother with that hidden button under your desk. That was the first thing I had Hardison disabled." Nate replied, his face a picture of calm.

The smile on Blackpoole's face turned to fury as he jabbed at something just under his desk. He glared at the thief and the mastermind before making a sudden grab at his drawer. Nate realised a moment too late what Blackpoole was reaching for and tried to launch himself at him. His movements, still slowed by his injuries proved in vain as Blackpoole grabbed his gun and with a click, it was loaded and pointed at Parker.

"Let her go Ian. It's me you want." Nate said, fear seeping into his voice.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow her brains out right now."

"It's me you want, Ian. And we have information. Information that would put you away in prison for the rest of your life. I have it in my hands now." Nate held up a slim thumb drive. "Let Parker go and you can have the one and only copy. And me." He held up both hands in a sign of surrender.

"No. Nate-" Parker started to protest but was cut off with a look from Nate.

"I've thought about it and I reject your offer. I want you to watch and live with the knowledge that yet another person had to die because of you." There was a blur of movement in front of Nate followed by the sound of a single gunshot.

* * *

><p>Sophie had watched helplessly as Parker was dragged into Blackpoole's office and then again when Nate walked in a while later. Now, she could only wait for something to happen. The coms have stopped working, most likely due to a signal jammer in the building.<p>

And Tara and Quinn, arrested by Interpol. _At least they're not dead._ Sophie comforted herself. Her first instinct had been to make her way to Blackpoole's office. In fact, she was already half way out the door when Allen caught up with her and pulled her back.

"I know what you're thinking Sophie, but I can't let you go."

"I can't just sit here. I can't lose them." She could hear how hysterical she sounded.

"I understand Sophie, believe me I do. But Eliot will never forgive me if I let you go alone with no plan and no backup. And we can't bring Maria with us." Sophie knew Allen was right. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to her daughter, but it did not escape her that Allen made an extra effort to ensure the door was properly secured.

When he joined her in the living room a while later, Sophie noticed he had on a knife holster, similar to the one Eliot owned. In his arms, he carried a sleeping Maria, whom he laid on the sofa, while Sophie paced the length of the living room.

"There's Eliot and Hardison." Allen exclaimed, sending Sophie running back to the sofa. Sure enough, Eliot and Hardison had appeared on the screen, being escorted into one of the elevators by four guards. She watched as the elevator door closed and Eliot exchange a look with Hardison.

Sophie could feel her body tense in anticipation and a heartbeat later; Eliot spun around and swung his cuffed fists at the guards behind him and Hardison threw his weight at the two behind him.

* * *

><p>Eliot watched as the elevator door closed. He knew exactly how long it would take the elevator to travel to the thirty-sixth level, where Blackpoole's office was located.<p>

There was just enough time to take out the guards and he was fairly confident that Hardison had understood his intention in that brief moment. He just hoped they could both make it out of this elevator in one piece.

He took a moment to get his bearings before swinging both fists at the guard standing behind him. Hardison took his cue and threw his whole weight back at the two guards standing there. Caught by surprise, the guards were momentarily at a lost over how to respond.

The first to recover moved the draw his weapon but even cuffed, Eliot was too quick for him. He swung his fists again, connecting squarely with his nose. Blood spurted out immediately and the man howled in pain.

In the limited space of the elevator and the chaos of six men fighting, Eliot could not check on Hardison. He aimed at the groin area of the nearest guard and hit him with all his force. A gun went off and Eliot crouched down instinctively. He did not wait to see where to bullet had hit, throwing his side at another guard, satisfied when he heard the latter's head connect with the metal wall of the elevator with a dull thud.

Another gunshot.

This time, Eliot felt a surge of pain in his left arm. He made used of the adrenaline surge to elbow the last guard in the chest. He landed on his companion, out cold. Eliot looked up at Hardison. A small trickle of blood was dripping down the side of his face but other than that, he looked fine.

"That would teach you to manhandle my laptop." Hardison glared at the unconscious men on the ground.

He turned to look at Eliot and frown. "You're shot, man."

"It's just a graze. Get the keys for these damn cuffs. We have to assume they have men waiting for us." At a glare from the hitter, Hardison quickly search the guard and produced the keys.

They had just unlocked both sets of cuffs when a ding indicated that the elevator has reached its destination. Eliot's body immediately tensed in anticipation of another fight but the elevator door opened to an empty corridor.

A distant sound of gunshot sent the both of them running in that direction.

* * *

><p>"What is the problem?" Sterling snapped at his subordinate.<p>

"We managed to hacked into the cloud account where the warehouse footage are stored but the file was encrypted."

"Aren't you supposed to be elite of Interpol? Decode it!"

"We tried. It triggered some type of countdown, and unless we input the password, it would wipe out all the files."

Sterling pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to suppress the urge to punch someone.

"Tell me you didn't lose the files."

"We manage to freeze the timer, there's only about three seconds left on the countdown. We can't try anything else to decode the encryption without unfreezing the timer." The blare of an alarm interrupted the conversation. The agents sprang into action, fingers flying across keyboards.

"What is going on now?"

"The video files unleashed a virus into our system."

"Fix it. I want those files. Call me as soon as you have them." With that Sterling left the office in a decidedly fouler mood than before.

* * *

><p>Parker could tell that Nate's words were not going to change Blackpoole's mind. She had already unlocked her handcuffs while the two men were talking. She silently took off the cuffs and braced herself for action.<p>

"Let Parker go and you can have the one and only copy. And me." He held up both hands in a sign of surrender.

"No. Nate-" Parker started to protest but was cut off with a look from Nate.

"I've thought about it and I reject your offer. I want you to watch and live with the knowledge that yet another person had to die because of you."

Parker knew it was now or never and leapt over Blackpoole's desk, straight at the man. She heard the gun went off but was fairly confident that she hadn't been hit. Both of them landed on the ground in a heap.

Parker gracefully rolled off and attempted to cuff Blackpoole. A moan from behind distracted her momentarily, giving Blackpoole the opportunity to push her aside and looked around for his dropped gun.

The gun in question had slid a distance away in the scuffle. Blackpoole and Parker both ran towards it.

The door to the office burst open and Eliot dashed into the office, straight at Blackpoole. There was a loud crash as both men ran into the desk. Eliot punched him twice before closing his hand around Blackpoole's throat.

Rage was soaring through the hitter.

In that moment, the only people who existed were the both of them. Blackpoole clawed at his hand to no avail as life was slowly being choked out of him.

"…Eliot. ELIOT!" Parker's voice jolted Eliot out of his trance. He released his hold of Blackpoole's throat, leaving the latter gasping for air as he tried to move away from the hitter.

Eliot turned towards Parker in time to catch the cuffs she threw at him, which he swiftly slapped on Blackpoole's wrists.

"I am not going to prison. I will give the Kadjics to the Feds and I'll walk."

"That's where you're wrong Ian. You might be able to get a deal on the weapons trafficking, but not murder." Nate spoke up, leaning against the wall, Parker's spare shirt pressed against his bleeding shoulder.

"Murder? I didn't kill anybody."

"You killed Maggie. You may not have pulled the trigger but you were behind it. All of it."

"You can't prove that. Even if you manage to find any evidence at all, it's all linked to Edi." Ian smirked.

"Yes of course. You are too smart for that, so we planted evidence of your involvement instead."

* * *

><p><em>Repeating Hardison's instructions to herself softly, Parker found the terminal she was looking for, pulled the monitor and keyboard towards herself and plugged in the thumb drive. A series of pings sounded and a number of windows pop up.<em>

"_The sound of success. I'm in."_

"_Alright girl, just give me a minute to locate Blackpoole's computer… Got it. Now plug in the second thumb drive I gave you."_

"_Won't he notice someone remotely accessing his desktop?" Parker asked as she plugged in the second thumb drive._

"_Excuse you? Why does everyone question me? Have I ever let you down? Do I question your methods? No! Seriously, one of these days…"_

"_Alright Hardison." Parker cut him off. "I totally trust you." She said as Hardison's program worked its magic and started uploading files._

_._

_At the FBI LA field office, Sophie pulled on her navy blue jacket and double-checked the items in her hand before walking nonchalantly into the building. She made her way down to the evidence storage room and strode up to the agent behind the desk. _

"_Hi, I'm here to enter some evidence? Here's the paperwork." She smiled brightly handing over the envelope she was holding. The woman stared at her suspiciously. _

"_I've never seen you around here before."_

"_Oh I'm new. This is only my first week." Sophie said smoothly while continuing to smile._

"_Who's your field officer?"_

"_Oh, Special Agent McSweeten."_

* * *

><p>The door to Blackpoole's office burst open a second time. Agent McSweeten ran into the office, flanked by another two agents. He glanced around the room and lowered his weapon when he spotted Parker.<p>

"Ah, Special Agent Hagen, there you are. Agent Thomas is here too." He greeted Hardison as his men pulled Blackpoole onto his feet and led him out of the office.

"Hey, aren't you the profiler who helped me found DB Cooper?" McSweeten commented upon spotting Nate. "You're hurt, I should call you an ambulance."

"Oh that won't be necessary. We have people waiting to take us to the hospital. Looks like you've got everything covered here; if it's fine with you we'll take our leave now. We got some loose ends we need to tie up for our own case." Hardison chimed in quickly as Eliot helped Nate up and led him out of the office.

McSweeten looked slightly confused but turned his attention back to Parker.

"Thanks again for your help, Special Agent Hagen. It's funny how our cases tend to intersect right?"

"Yeah. Funny." Parker replied quickly, letting out an unnaturally high laugh. "I'll see you around." And with that she was gone.

.

Eliot helped Nate into the back of the van before climbing out again.

"Hey man, where do you think you're going?" Hardison asked.

"To get Tara and Quinn." Eliot replied matter of factly.

"You're still bleeding man. At least let me patch it up for you first." Hardison offered.

"No time for that. You have to get Nate back to Allen ASAP. Just give me the first aid kit. I'll do it myself. Where's the car you came in Nate?" Nate produced the keys and pointed vaguely at the other end of the car park.

"Doesn't matter. I'll find it. Both of you get a move on it."

"I'm coming with you. Parker, you drive Nate back." Hardison said hastily as he jogged to keep up with Eliot, first aid kit in hand. Parker nodded and climbed into the driver seat.

It did not take them long to locate the car.

Hardison automatically moved towards the passenger side door when Eliot threw him the keys.

"You're driving. I'm calling Sterling to set up a meet."

* * *

><p>The door opened and Tara was only slightly surprised to see two agents walking in. She had been expecting Sterling. Without a word, they slapped some cuffs on her wrists again.<p>

"Are we going somewhere?" Tara asked the agent nearest to her. The agent remained silent as he led Tara to a waiting car, in which Quinn was already seated. Quinn raised his eyebrow when he saw the gridfter but said nothing as they were being driven off.

.

Eliot and Hardison were sitting at a small, cozy café.

Hardison had produced another laptop from somewhere and was now busy typing up a storm as usual.

Eliot's left arm was still throbbing but at least it had stopped bleed, although their bloody clothes were drawing suspicious glances from the passerby. Their earbuds had started working again once they got out of the building and Eliot had spent a good part of the drive trying to calm a rather hysterical Sophie over the coms.

There was a collective sigh of relief when Parker announced her their arrival back at the safe house in one piece in an impossibly short amount of time.

"_Good news, Nate is going to be fine, but I am going to insist that there be no more extra curricular activities for the next month at least."_ Allen reported over the coms.

Eliot could feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders. That should not be hard to do as soon as they had tied up the last loose end.

He saw Sterling approaching them from across the road and nudged Hardison with his foot.

"Didn't think I would be seeing you boys again so soon." Sterling said as he took a seat without waiting to be offered one.

Eliot snorted. "Let's cut to the chase. We have the information you want and you have our people. We trade and that's the end of this business."

* * *

><p><em>The warehouse was empty, as they had hoped. <em>

_Eliot glanced at the dashboard clock. "We have thirty minutes." _

_Hardison nodded as he gathered up the equipment they needed. Eliot took one quick walk around the perimeter and satisfied that there were not immediate threats, took a bag of equipment from him and got to work. _

_The pair worked quickly, fixing the pinhole cameras at various corners around the warehouse. Hardison checked the feeds on his laptop, shouting out instructions to Eliot to adjust one this way or that. _

_When everything was to his satisfaction, he closed his laptop and gave Eliot a thumbs up. _

_Eliot glanced at the dashboard clock as they climbed into the van. They had taken twenty nine minutes, leaving just enough time to clear out before the main players arrive._

* * *

><p>Sterling smirked. "Or you could just give me the information and I don't arrest the both of you."<p>

Hardison rolled his eyes while Eliot shot a hard glare at the Interpol officer. "I would really like to see you try and arrest us Sterling. May I remind you that you lost a prisoner and we had to help you get him back?"

"Technically you gave us a tip on where he might be. I still had to do the leg work."

* * *

><p><em>Nate dialed the number and waited for the other party to pick up.<em>

"_Sterling." Came the voice on the other end. _

"_It's me."_

"_Nate. Your little stunt with the bomb yesterday left me with enough paperwork to last me through the month."_

"_Ah, that one is on me yes. I have something for you that might make up for it."_

"_This better be good."_

"_I can give you Kadjic. Both of them."_

"_I had my people sitting on Edi since the breakout and he has had no contact at all with his brother. Are you telling me that you have somehow managed to locate my prisoner while sitting in your safe house?"_

"_I'm telling you that I can give you evidence to take down Edi Kadjic for good and lead you to Tony."_

"_So you're giving me a tip."_

"_I'm giving you a good solid lead. Hardison found out how the brothers have been communicating. I'm sure with the power of Interpol behind you, you can track down Tony. I mean, you have to do some of the work Sterling."_

"_Fine. Give me the details."_

* * *

><p>"You want the credit Sterling, you do the work. You did manage to track Tony down right? Or did you manage to screw that up as well." Eliot replied.<p>

Sterling gave a noncommittal shrug and changed the topic. "I could still have you both arrested for wrecking havoc on our network with your virus."

It was Hardison's turn to laugh. " Maybe next time you would think twice before trying to hack into my program."

Sterling stared at the two men in front of him for a moment longer as though mulling over his options.

"Fine. Just give me the damn password."

"And my people?"

Sterling spoke quickly over the phone and a minute later Tara and Quinn were walking towards the group, cuffs off and trailed by two bewildered looking agents.

"Where's my password Hardison?"

The hacker pressed a few keys before turning to grin at Sterling.

"It's all fixed now." Right on cue, Sterling's phone started to ring.

Eliot and Hardison stood to leave, walking away from the café, towards their car, followed closely by Tara and Quinn.

"I'm going to demand more money for having to put up with being arrested by Interpol." Quinn ribbed Eliot good-naturedly.

"How about I don't charge you for having to bust your ass out of jail." Came Eliot's reply.

Quinn's reply was cut off as the car door closed and they sped off.

* * *

><p>A fortnight later found the team relaxing at a much bigger house. With the threat against their life over, at least for the time being, they had the luxury of time to look for a bigger place for all of them to live more comfortably.<p>

Even if it was only meant to be temporary.

While Nate recuperated, Sophie fussed over him. Eliot cooked while Parker and Hardison spent a suspiciously large amount of time holed up in their room with Maria, likely teaching her some questionable skills.

They laughed and squabble like old time, yet an unspoken rule hung over them. Nobody talked about what would happen once Nate received the all clear from Allen.

Still, if anyone knew that avoiding a problem never solved anything it was this group of people.

The time for confronting the problem dawned upon them when Allen announced at dinner that he would be leaving the following day. Nate was no longer in danger of dying from the smallest fall, although full recovery would still take some time. As far as Allen was concerned, his job was done.

The team sent him off the next morning with much gratitude and reluctance, though the good doctor suspected the latter had more to do with their own issues than with him.

The rest of the day dragged its feet. The elephant in the room grew bigger by the minute, slowly squashing all of them with its mass. Just before dinnertime, Nate pulled Sophie aside.

"We need to talk." He said simply. Sophie gave a resigned sigh in response.

"This last couple of months has reminded me how important the both of you are to me. You are my whole life now. Sophie, both of you. Wherever you want to go, I will go with you. You just have to pick a place." Sophie stared at Nate in surprise.

In all the time they have been together, Nate had never willingly handed over the reins of control to anyone. Recovering form her surprise, Sophie smiled and replied, "We could go to Paris. It's my favorite place in the world, and where I fell in love with you."

It was Nate's turn to be surprised. They had never openly discussed those years before Leverage Inc. came to be, not even after they had gotten together.

"I guess Paris it is." Nate smiled and leaned down to kiss his wife. Sophie returned the kiss, happiness flowing through her every fiber, yet underneath there was still a sense of emptiness, like something was still not quite in place. She broke the kiss first and took Nate by the hand.

"I think it's time to go tell the others." She said, leading him out of their room to look for the rest of the family. Parker and Hardison's room was empty and so was the living room, which left the kitchen. As they neared it, Sophie suddenly stopped and placed a finger on her lips, head nudging towards the scene in the kitchen.

Eliot was cooking dinner as always but Parker and Hardison had gotten it in their heads to help out today, dragging the three year old with them. From their position, they could hear Eliot yelling at the other two adults, which only served to make Hardison panic even more, spilling the pot of sauce he was holding down the front of his shirt while Parker and Maria giggled.

Eliot grabbed the pot from him roughly, causing more sauce to slosh about dangerously, spilling a few drops onto the floor.

Maria held out an oddly shaped meatball she had been tasked with balling, earning her a dimpled smile from Eliot.

"Seriously guys, the three year old is doing a better job than the both of you." The smile was wiped off just as quickly.

Sophie turned back to Nate with a dazzling smile. "If it's not too late Nate, I think I had a change of heart."

Matching her smile with one of his own, Nate replied. "You know what Soph? I too am already exactly where I want to be." This time, the happiness Sophie felt when her husband kissed her was whole and complete with no trace of uncertainty.

* * *

><p>"So are we going back to Portland?" Parker asked as she devoured the large bowl of ice cream in front of her, while studying the map in front of them.<p>

"Too risky. Blackpoole and Kadjic found out the location. No telling who else they might have passed the information on to." Eliot replied immediately.

"Can we move to DC?"

"You want to move to driving distance from Quantico and Langley? Are you crazy woman?" Eliot snapped, the same time Hardison said "Hell no."

"But we can break into the White House." Parker pouted. Hardison look skyward and mumbled to himself before launching into an explanation as to why moving to the nation's capital was a very bad idea. While the lovebirds squabble, Eliot took the opportunity to talk to the older couple.

"Are you completely sure about staying? It's still not too late to change your mind. I'll explain to them." Eliot spoke softly.

"I think the events of the last couple of months proved that being away does not deter people from coming after us." Nate replied.

"Let us help you this time. Move out of the country, you can still start anew."

"Eliot, I know where you're coming from and I appreciate it. We have too many demons in our past for us to try and outrun. Whatever comes, we will face it together. As a family." Sophie nodded in agreement; eliciting a smile from the stone faced hitter.

"I think we better go help Hardison out before Parker moves us into the oval office." Sophie said pointing at the hapless hacker.

"You know Parker, the people on our list, there's a huge number of them still living in New York City. Maybe we could move a little closer to that area?" They heard Hardison said.

"DC is a lot closer to New York than Portland." Came the thief's reply.

"It's not just a choice between DC and Portland, Parker."

"Philadelphia." Nate said calmly.

Four pairs of eyes turned to him. "It's near to New York City but not near enough that Sophie and I would run into people we know I don't think." Nate walked towards the map.

"Philly will be perfect. What do the rest of you think?" The other four exchanged looks as a slow smile spread across Parker's face.

"Let's go steal a Wall Street."


	16. Chapter 16: Epilogue

**A/N: This story started out as an impulsive decision to try and translate the episode I saw in my head into words. I never expected to receive so much positive encouragement since by my own admission, I'm not a terribly good writer. Thank you so much for all the reviews, favourites and follows. I've been inspired to write more so if you liked this story, do keep a lookout. **

**For now, please enjoy the final chapter of this story and thank you again for coming on this humble journey with me. **

**TNT owns all of the characters and their quirks. I only own this storyline.**

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_Chapter 16: Epilogue_

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Maria Ford knows that she has been given a good lot in the game of life.

Home is a spacious townhouse in Philadelphia with all the latest amenities. All of her gadgets are one of a kind, thanks to uncle Alec.

Blessed with the looks and charms of her mother and the intelligence of her father, making friends and earning good grades at the top private school she attends is hardly a challenge. Fending off unwanted advances from boys who get a little too touchy feely is a breeze, thanks to years of training from uncle Eliot.

Summer holidays always start with a fortnight of bonding time with her parents, usually in Europe, before meeting up with the rest of the family. Dad tries to think of new activities or places to visit every year but 'tradition' dictates at least one rappel down a building, a visit to at least one museum and shopping in Paris.

At eighteen, Maria has been to all the major museums in Europe and the States at least twice and, no thanks to her parents, is pretty sure her knowledge of art and historical artefacts far exceeds her peers and even most adults.

Although she will never admit it to anyone, her favourite part of summer vacations are the days where they make no plans allowing her to play chess with her dad for hours, undisturbed. When she was younger, she had been good enough to participate in a few national tournaments but being away from the rest of the family made her homesick and she contented herself with playing casually.

Her family may be unconventional and drive her crazy most of the time but she missed the chaos and drama that was ever present.

The daughter of Sophie Devereaux was, after all, also a drama queen at heart.

No matter where they spent their summer, the holidays always end with a two days trip to LA to pay their respects at Sam and Maggie's grave. Dad always asked to be left alone at the cemetery and they will not see him again until it's time to leave for home.

.

From a young age, Maria's parents waste no opportunities to remind her of her privileged upbringing and the ways in which she could help those less fortunate than her.

Every December, the whole family goes through their belongings, setting aside toys, clothes and other items that have been relegated to the dark corners of closets and cupboards, to be donated to local shelters for Christmas. Aunt Parker also goes on a huge shopping spree to buy toys for sick children at local hospitals every year and the whole family, Maria included, is expected to contribute a certain amount.

She learnt the hard way that, being unable to meet the contribution meant that it would have to come out of her future allowance.

It had been a miserable start to the new year.

* * *

><p>Still, sometimes she wishes her life were a little more… normal.<p>

Like when trying to explain her parents' occupation to new acquaintances. Somehow "consultants" always lead to, at best, confused looks or at worst, even more questions.

Or uncle Eliot insisting on running background checks before new friends can be invited over.

Or explaining to friends her odd little family, who happens to be her parents' co-workers and why they all live under one roof.

Or the fact that the only bank accounts, yes she has several, to her name are in the Caymans and that she has a stash of three thousand dollars in cash, of what her parents called emergency funds and aunt Parker explicitly stated had to be in non sequential bills, stashed in her room.

No, she's not telling you where it is; it took her two years to find a place even aunt Parker couldn't locate.

Or the GPS trackers embedded in all her shoes.

There had been an incident one year where uncle Alec had forgotten to remove the trackers from the shoes they were donating. They were almost out the door when he had voiced the thought and hearing the other four adults yelling _Dammit Hardison _at the same time had caused the three children to burst into laughter, which had the effect of lightening the situation immediately.

Or the insane security system in the house, which uncle Alec often claims to rival that of the CIA. Trying to sneak in after curfew was a futile attempt, the twins had tried to break into The Basement, where the main control panel was located and where all three children were strictly forbidden from entering.

The twins had nearly been tazed by their mom and all three had been yelled at first by Maria's dad and then again by uncle Eliot, who had launched into an hour-long lecture about _the importance of security and following protocols_ and _dangerous people out there who will not go easy on you just because you're children_.

Or just dating in general. Most boys have to contend with overprotective fathers but everyone knows that dating Maria Ford means dealing not only with her father but also her uncle Eliot who puts the fear of God into every teenage boy with just one look.

.

When she had been much younger, Maria had thought that her parents were some kind of international super spies.

They would sometimes go off for business trips with aunt Parker and uncle Eliot and in her young mind, she often picture them to be like the Justice League (her favourite cartoon), using their superpowers to stop the villains and save the world.

More often than not, uncle Alec would stay behind to babysit and he would allow her to play computer games on one of his old laptop, while he works.

Occasionally, uncle Alec would go off with the others and Tara would babysit.

Those were Maria's favourite days. Tara, she refused to be called aunt, lets her eat all the candy that she wanted, went to bed anytime and told her the most fascinating stories about all the rich and powerful people she had met and the wonderful "gifts" they shower on her.

These trips decreased significantly after the twins were born.

Six years younger than Maria, Alice and Archie have identical dark brown hair and blue eyes, with caramel coloured skin. Both had inherited the nimbleness of their mother and while Archie is well on his way to becoming an accomplished gymnast, Alice prefers to spend him with her dad, looking at screens and tapping at keyboards.

As she grew older, Maria started to suspect that her parents' occupation was perhaps, not quite as she imagined. She became more aware of police officers, and even FBI agents that had turned up on occasions, and once, an Interpol agent, although that one did not technically make it to the front door.

Unlike other children, she was taught to call uncle Eliot if she ever ran into trouble. _Don't dial 911 Maria, just hit speed dial 1._

At one point, she had contemplated the possibility that her father was a mob boss, but five people seemed to be too small to be a mob. Also, while the strange assortment of people who turn up at uncle Eliot's restaurant after hours always seem to appear distraught, they never show any sign of having been brought there against their will.

.

A week after her sixteenth birthday the mystery had finally been unravelled. Her parents had sat her down in the living room and told her the whole story.

About how her father had been an insurance investigator, chasing the other four across the globe, the truth about Sam's death, the circumstances that brought them together and the various ups and downs over the years, glossing over, some of the more gruesome details, which she found out from aunt Parker later anyway.

They had then brought her down to The Basement.

Reality turned out to be much more underwhelming than her imagination. The room was simply decorated, with a small kitchenette and sparse furnishing, a huge contrast with the rest of the house.

It was what she saw in the right corner that brought home the grittier realities of her parents' job. A hospital bed had been placed there, with privacy curtains next to it. An assortment of machines was lined up neatly between the bed and a small cupboard.

In that moment, Maria fully appreciated all the effort the five adults put into keeping the twins and her safe. She turned to her parents and hugged them for a long time while tears flowed down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Maria sat down on the floor of her new dorm and unlocked her luggage to start unpacking. Her family had left for home an hour ago, amidst tears and hugs, mom and aunt Parker, stern reminders about safety and such, dad and uncle Eliot, and incoherent babblings, uncle Alec.<p>

It had taken her forever to convince her parents and uncle Eliot to let her attend an out of state college, even when that college had been the Harvard Law School. This had been followed immediately by another month long argument of residence halls versus off campus accommodation.

In the end, she had been allowed to stay in the dorms, provided uncle Alec could incorporate a few of his security measures into the room and she checked in with her parents every weekend.

She pulled out the presents from her family, presented to her at the farewell dinner last week, first.

Aunt Parker had given her a new tazer along with a set of ropes and harness. Uncle Alec had presented to her a slick new laptop, with an operating system so advance she was sure it would not be officially released until after her graduation, along with a card from the twins.

Uncle Eliot had packed her a large variety of his homemade sauces and condiments, along with some recipe cards.

Mom had given her a beautiful diamond necklace and earrings set, with somewhat questionable origins judging by the looks dad had sent mon's way when Maria had opened the red velvet case.

Dad had acted all mysterious, and handed her a simple cardboard tube with instructions to open it only after she had moved into her dorm. She shook out the poster inside and unrolled it, giving a loud gasp as recognition hit. It was a printing of the Degas painting that her mom had been swiping in Prague when her parents had first laid eyes on each other all those years ago.

The original of course, is currently hanging in her parents' bedroom, in lieu of a wedding picture. She turned the poster over and saw that her father had scribbled a note.

_My dearest Maria,_

_I am sure that you recognise this painting and is wondering why I am giving it to you. When I first saw your mother swiping this painting 33 years ago, I never imagine that I would one day find happiness with her but I did. The truth is, life is messy and unpredictable and things may not always be what they seem. _

_I like to believe that we've raise you to be a good person who does the right things, but the right thing and the legal thing may not always be one and the same. I hoped this picture would serve as a reminder that sometimes, bad guys are the only good guys you get. _

_All my love,_

_Dad_

Maria smiled to herself, and moved to put it up in front of her desk, so that she could stare at it whenever she's studying.

The final and most cherished memento she had brought from home was an old and dog-eared children's storybook. Though she had not read it in years, the story and pictures were still imprinted in her memory clear as day.

This, she placed on her small bookshelf where it looked rather out of place among the stiff new textbooks.

She had just finish putting the last of her clothes into the closet and was trying to find a good place to stash her emergency funds when she heard a knock on her door. Through the peephole, she saw a tall man standing outside her door. Immediately suspicious, she grabbed her tazer off her desk and stuffed it into the back of her jeans, before opening the door.

"You must be Maria Ford." The man said simply with a smile. Now that she got a closer look, he looks to be about the same age as her father, with thinning grey hair and warm, friendly brown eyes. Maria relaxed just a little.

"Who are you?" Maria asked, keeping her voice and face neutral.

"Let's just say I'm an old friend of your father's. He wanted me look out for you while you're here."

Maria frowned. "I'm pretty sure I've met all of my father's old friends and besides, he did not mention anything about this." She made a limp gestured, eyes still frowning suspiciously.

"He didn't want you to think they were being overprotective but I thought it would make both our lives easier if I introduced myself." The man said with a casual shrug.

"You're a cop." Maria stated simply.

The man raised his eyebrows. "And how could you tell?"

"It's a very distinctive stance." It was her turn to give a casual shrug. This earned her a roaring laugh from the man.

"I'm retired. And I see that Spencer has taught you well. Look kiddo, here's my number. You might want to set it as your speed dial 1. You Fords seem to be magnets for trouble." He said handing her a small slip of paper.

Maria accepted it but looked back up at him sceptically.

"You do know I will be checking your story out."

"I expect nothing less." The man gave her a smile and turned to leave.

"Speed dial 1 has always been uncle Eliot." The words tumbled out before she could stop herself.

"Then perhaps it's time for a little change." He said as he made his way towards the elevator.

"Wait! You haven't told me your name."

The man stopped and turned back to face her. "Patrick Bonanno."

.

**END**


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